New Leadership At San Diego City Hall

Speaker 1: 00:01 As one era ends, another begins at San Diego city hall. How will Kevin Faulkner be remembered for his time as mayor and Progressive's get their chance to lead as mayor Todd Gloria takes office. We'll also take a deep dive into a record breaking election. What the numbers tell us about San Diego's historic voter turnout. I'm Mark sour. The KPBS round table starts. Now. Speaker 2: 00:30 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 00:33 Welcome to our discussion of the week. Stop stories. I'm Mark Sauer and joining me at the KPBS remote round table today. KPBS Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen, David Garrick, who covers city hall for the San Diego union Tribune and reporter John Wilkins. Also with the union Tribune, after a tough race against a fellow Democrat city hall veteran, Todd Gloria was sworn in as San Diego's new mayor this week. Laurie, it takes over in a time of crisis, a surge in COVID-19 cases and a tourism based economy reeling because of it. Plus the ongoing challenge of homelessness and affordable housing and climate change with us to discuss with the new mayor is facing is David Garrick who covers San Diego city government for the San Diego union Tribune. Dave, glad to have you back on the round table. Thanks for having me Mark. I didn't mention in the open that Todd Gloria comes into office along with five new city council members, giving Democrats eight of the nine council seats start with how big a factor you think one party government is for a city like ours. Speaker 3: 01:32 I think it might be a big factor. It's the first time since the city has had the strong mayor form of government in 2005, that, uh, if you don't have divided government where the is in one side and the council is not in the other during that entire time, you've had Republican mayors or, and we've had democratic councils with the exception of about eight months when Bob Filner was mayor, which was very chaotic. And I don't, I don't know if that's true, Speaker 1: 01:53 Right? That was a chaotic time. And of course that's how, uh, Kevin Faulkner came into the job. Now, remind us of the experience Todd Gloria brings to the mayor's office. He had the job already, at least for an interim, right? Speaker 3: 02:06 Yeah. It's pretty remarkable experience. He was interim mayor for eight months after Filner had to resign because of that sexual harassment scandal. Uh, he also had eight years on the city council from 2008 to 2016. Uh, and then he had four years in the state assembly. He's the first San Diego mayor with state house experience since assemblyman, Pete Wilson was elected mayor in 1971. So I mean, he really knows what's realistic at the state level, as far as help for programs. He knows how city council works and he knows a little bit about being mayor as interim mayor. He basically was the mayor for eight months. So he really has an enormous amount of experience. He wouldn't expect for my own new mayor. Speaker 1: 02:42 Well, you're right. He certainly should know his way around city hall and the agencies and the department heads and a lot of those hands in the bureaucracy or are there and have been there since he was on the council. And, and that stint as mayor. Now tell us about the staff that mayor Gloria has assembled, who are they and what backgrounds do they bring to city? Uh, some are Speaker 3: 03:00 People that have worked with them in the assembly and some of them are people who worked in this council office and some of them are holdovers from mayor Faulkner. It seems like an impressive group. I don't know all of them, but they all seem to have a experience when you look at the resumes and certainly he's touted the diversity of the staff. They're ethically diverse. There's a lot of women in key roles, but appears that he's sending a message that he's going to represent all of San Diego. So it seems like, you know, first of all, I should, it seems like a really good staff. Okay. Speaker 1: 03:26 Let's turn to the challenges facing the new mayor and the council now start with the economy and its impact on the city budget. Uh, tourists are scarce. Of course the zoo and SeaWorld are empty. Cruise ships have vanished or remain anchored off shore where to Gloria and the council start with all of this. Speaker 3: 03:42 Yeah. Well, one of them that really depends on what happens federally, whether there's, you know, new relief for state local governments looks like that stalled in Washington where the Democrats supporting that and the Republicans not supporting that. So if that doesn't calm, there may have to be emergency mid-year budget cuts was certainly be an unpleasant way for the council and mayor Gloria, Speaker 1: 04:02 Right? I mean, it really does depend on what happens in Washington, I guess, to an extent in, um, in Sacramento too, I would imagine Gloria's connections up there might pay off as we move through this, Speaker 3: 04:12 That, that, that could happen. But last spring, when they were balancing their budget, they really use, they got 146 million in direct federal relief. And they use that to basically avoid almost any significant cuts. And I think they would hope for something like that again, um, because the reason the city is having a recession, isn't because of mismanagement. It's because of the pandemic. So theoretically they should get relief, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen. Speaker 1: 04:33 The whole thing in Washington, as you alluded to, uh, the Democrats are pushing for relief for big cities and States and towns and, and other places across the country. And, uh, Mitch McConnell and Republicans are, uh, wanting to horse trade for that right now. And are keen on giving significant relief to, uh, cities and States, right? Speaker 3: 04:51 No. And I guess the question becomes, how long can the city wait and hope that that's going to happen before they have to start making decisions and not burn through all their reserves? Um, you know, I don't think today is the problem, but as we get into January and February, I'm not a budget expert, but it seems like at some point you have to realize you don't have enough money to pay your bills and you have to start cutting your expenses. Keep in mind, the city also has to deal with the helping the County distribute the COVID-19 vaccine. You know, they also have to deal with the fact that the extended new round of lockdowns means maybe they want to do more relief for small businesses. Maybe they want to extend their eviction moratorium. Those are all things that, that cost money, not the eviction moratorium, but the relief for small businesses. So those are other sort of immediate challenges that they face Speaker 1: 05:36 Looking out a ways based on his campaign and your discussions, what are Todd Gloria's main long-term priorities. Speaker 3: 05:42 Yeah. And that's gotta be frustrating for him to get into office without money to do the things that he's always dreamed of doing when he became mayor. But he certainly, he, he wrote, he helped write the city's climate action plan and he mentions that frequently as a high priority, that also takes money. He was a big advocate on homelessness when he was on the council, because district includes downtown where homelessness is a sort of the most conspicuous. Uh, and he says, that's his top priority, which some might find surprising, but he says that's a top priority. He's also focused on the idea of social equity and law enforcement reform. So he mentioned black lives matter in his inauguration speech. So I think that's going to be another priority. And probably his biggest priority based on his work in Sacramento is a solving things. San Diego is affordable housing crisis. He authored a lot of bills in Sacramento and lobby for a lot of legislation that allows more affordable housing to be built, especially along transit lines. Yeah. Speaker 1: 06:28 And what about his dealings with city constantly? Just because it's a bunch of Democrats doesn't mean it's clear sailing all the time, does it? Speaker 3: 06:35 I can agree with you, but I really think it is going to be a lot of clear sailing, certainly compared to the us versus them dynamic of the past, where you had a Republican mayor and a democratic city council, and now with eight Democrats and a democratic mayor, I do think it's going to be relatively smooth sailing. I'm sure there'll be issues where there'll be divided. I'm sure there'll be issues where priorities will be different, but in general, I think it's going to be the most new sailing we've ever seen in San Diego. Speaker 1: 06:59 The diversity of Todd Gloria's, uh, staff, Gloria himself, his first openly gay mayor and San Diego. And, uh, he's brings some, uh, some real diversity, uh, to the office, uh, in his own, right? Speaker 3: 07:11 Yes. He's Filipino native, American, Latino, and Dutch. And I had to go slowly there because not, not often do you have for, uh, for someone, uh, but, uh, yeah, he's remarkably diverse and, and he doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk, even as a council member, he's always supported diversity in those issues. So I think, uh, I think he's gonna probably focus on those. As I mentioned before, Speaker 1: 07:33 We missed a bet on a campaign slogan, Todd, Gloria one man, melting pot. Now I'm going to have you get out your crystal ball. Uh, just give me a little speculation, jump ahead one year. How might the 2022 state of the city address by mayor Gloria maybe differ from the one he's going to give in 2021? Yeah. Speaker 3: 07:52 Yeah. Well, it's the vaccines proved to be as effective as we hear hearing. I think it'll be a really rosy and exciting and looking forward ambitious speech in 2022. I think this one will probably be, you know, a little bit dark and negative. I think I'm sure he'll have hope in there and they'll, they'll try to spin it as a positive way, but you know, there's a lot of challenges facing the city. We have a huge economic crisis. We have the, the stuff we've talked about with social equity and law enforcement reform. And then we obviously have the, the pandemic. So, uh, you know, a lot of challenges and a lot of budget cuts are probably going to be coming. So it'll probably be not that upbeat, even though Todd with his charm and charisma, we'll probably try and make it as upbeat as possible. Speaker 1: 08:30 Well, and as you say, a lot of it depends on maybe some relief from Washington in the meantime, and to kind of get us over this hurdle till the vaccine kicks in and herd immunity. And this real spike in COVID starts to die down. That will change the game enormously. Speaker 3: 08:45 Well, especially if we hadn't mentioned that San Diego is a particularly tourism reliance city. And so it gets more of its money from hotel taxes and tourism related revenue than most other cities. So, Speaker 4: 08:56 Uh, you know, people used to joke that, you know, Chinese tourists were paying for our libraries and our pools, but there's some truth to that, you know, and the Chinese tourists aren't here. So to pay for the libraries and pools is going to be a much bigger challenge. Right. Speaker 1: 09:07 Right. And not to mention things like Comicon in person, maybe he'll be touting that again, by the time we get 18 months up, Speaker 4: 09:13 U S opened alternative, it's supposed to be here in June and that may not have fans, which is another one. Speaker 1: 09:17 Right. Okay. Lots happening. A busy beat death. David Carey, who covers San Diego city hall for the union Tribune. Thanks Dave. Thanks very much. After more than a dozen years in public office, nearly seven as mayor Kevin Faulkner turned over the reigns at city hall this week to Todd Gloria, a moderate Republican who voted for Donald Trump Faulkner leaves a complex legacy as the eyes a possible run for governor in California here to discuss it all is KPBS Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen. Andrew. Welcome back to the round table. Thank you, Mark. Well, you spoke with Kevin Faulkner this week, about his years as mayor, let's start with the chargers stadium issue. Faulkner's quote failure to get a deal with the chargers who clearly negotiated in bad faith. Well, it looks pretty good now since they remain a crappy team and they play now in empty stadiums because of COVID and taxpayers here would have been on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars for a stadium that benefited a rich NFL owner yet Faulkner pretty much dodged your question on that, right. Speaker 4: 10:14 Uh, pretty much, um, to be fair, I think most people agree that the chargers were never serious about staying in San Diego and that they were set on leaving absence, a massive, um, influx of public dollars for a new stadium that voters I think would have, um, been very unlikely to approve the criticism that I heard as Faulkner's approach approaching my reporting was that he should have seen that at the time. He did go through a lot of motions trying to keep them to stay, um, but the, uh, get them to stay. But the chargers and their representatives were just undermining the city's efforts every step along the way. And I asked the ex ma now ex mayor, uh, whether in hindsight, he agreed with that criticism that the chargers were not serious about staying and it was all kind of a waste. And, you know, would it have been better to just give them an ultimatum rather than dragging it out for years, trying to appease them falconer, basically just recapped what happened. And then he pivoted to, you know, talking about the future of sports in San Diego saying that, you know, he's glad we have the Padres. He's glad we have the Aztecs. There's going to be a new sports arena in the midway district. So, uh, you know, as far as the direct answer to the question about what mistakes he may or may not have made on the charges, he didn't really give any answer. Speaker 1: 11:33 And another key project Faulkner failed to get over the finish line was the convention center expansion on the waterfront. What should we make a Faulkner's actions in that huge effort? Speaker 4: 11:42 Well, this is another one where I, where pretty much everyone I spoke to in my reporting said Faulkner did not deserve all of the blame. Um, but definitely deserved some, there was an earlier financing plan that the city approved before Faulkner was mayor that got thrown out in court so that, you know, it was kind of a failed attempt. There were several years, um, where Faulkner talked about pledging some kind of action on expanding the convention center and, and those, um, either fell short. I mean, the chargers were another factor in here. They had a ballot measure in 2016 that included some type of convention center expansion that Faulkner supported, but, uh, you know, that didn't pass. Uh, but the voters, uh, back in 2017, he asked the city council for a special election that would have included a measure on his, uh, preferred convention center expansion plan. And the council majority, um, wouldn't call the special election. Uh, then there was the signature gathering campaign to put it on the ballot in 2018, but there were problems with signatures and getting that measure of certified in time. So it ended up on the 2020 ballot suffice it to say there were a lot of circumstances beyond Faulkner's control, but the many delays that I think perhaps he enabled, allowed an opposition to organize, to get funding. And that deprived the most recent expansion measure of a clear victory Speaker 1: 13:06 And the ongoing homeless crisis was accentuated by the hepatitis a outbreak a few years back. What did the now former mayor say about dealing with that public health crisis and the homeless situation overall? Yeah, Speaker 4: 13:17 Hepatitis a was a really, um, a wake-up call for Faulkner. And he really admitted that in our interview, um, it spread rapidly in San Diego's homeless community because of the horribly unsanitary conditions in downtown encampments. He admitted that coordination between the city and the County was a problem. The county's responsible for public health, but the city was responsible for sanitation. The mayor's response was to ramp up spending on homeless services. He got funding for new shelters. He also increasingly used the police force to enforce laws against not homelessness, but, you know, homeless, adjacent activities like blocking sidewalks or sleeping outside. And he often touts his record on homelessness and says, you know, San Diego was one of the only, or the only place a Metro area in the country where homelessness actually went down over the past few years, but those assumptions are based on some pretty unreliable data and whatever drop in homelessness in San Diego that there may or may not have been. I don't think it's very noticeable to most people, Speaker 1: 14:27 No, Kevin Faulkner back the soccer city plan for the mission Valley stadium site. But once San Diego state prevailed, he's now touting that development. It brings me to Faulkner is a political chameleon. He's skillful at dodging questions, putting his best narrative forward. That's good politics. What's your impression of Faulkner the politician versus Faulkner the leader? Yeah, Speaker 4: 14:46 I think he's a classically cautious politician. He's unlikely to bold or controversial positions on things unless there is already a broad sort of bipartisan coalition that would support it. Um, this was true with the climate action plan, which he supported, uh, after there was a pretty broad consensus around that many of the implementation measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions also, you know, uh, first there was this, um, consensus in the community and then he kind of got on board afterwards. Uh, you know, it's worth remembering prior to his political career. Uh, Kevin Faulkner worked in public relations. Um, when he was mayor, he had a very robust communications department in his office that put out a lot of press releases, held a lot of press conferences in terms of granting interviews. Sometimes even just getting his office to respond to questions in writing or, or responding to an interview request, it could at times be like pulling teeth. So that was frustrating as a journalist. And, and then, you know, of course, as we discussed in those interviews that he did grant, he often, uh, just didn't answer questions directly and would instead just kind of pivot to talking points where he feels more comfortable Speaker 1: 15:58 And finally Faulkner took a swipe in your interview at muddled messaging from Sacramento on COVID 19 restrictions. How do you think Faulkner did in leading San Diego during this deadly public health crisis Speaker 4: 16:09 Early in the pandemic, there was a really big consensus around the need to stay home. Uh, you know, only go out for essential activities. There was, um, you know, we heard from a lot of our leaders and Faulkner included that, uh, we're in this together. We need to do what it takes to, to help protect our health workers, to help protect our most vulnerable. And that consensus really just fell apart. The longer that the restrictions lasted and the more, uh, small businesses started to suffer, Faulkner very sharply criticized the latest lockdown measures from governor Gavin, Newsome the stay at home order. And of course, um, nuisance, uh, ill advised to dinner at a restaurant for a lobbyists birthday, which is a pretty easy target for anyone, uh, to shoot. If the governor I asked Faulkner directly what he would do, if he, you know, let's say, okay, you don't agree with the current restrictions, but what would you do to stop the current surge infections? Are there additional restrictions that he thinks are reasonable and would help protect our hospitals? Our healthcare workers are most vulnerable and he just simply didn't answer that question. Speaker 1: 17:16 Well, it'll be interesting to see as we move forward and what his future political plans are. I've been speaking with KPBS, Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen. Thanks Andrew. Thank you. Mark election officials in San Diego County and across California responded to the COVID 19 pandemic by making it easier than ever to vote. That's a key reason why we saw nearly a record turnout here, but it's not the only reason joining me for a deep dive into the numbers is reporter John Wilkins of the San Diego union Tribune. John. Good to have you back on the round table. Hi, Mark. Good to be here. Well, I'll ask listeners to indulge us a bit here since we're going to report some numbers and some definitions, but start with voter turnout in San Diego first, explain what that common term means versus the meaning of all eligible. Speaker 5: 17:59 Yeah, so, so turnout is the number of registered voters who actually voted. So, you know, the largest full would be those who live in the County who could possibly vote everybody who's 18 or over is a resident of the us lives here who could vote. And then the second pool is registered. Those who actually bothered to fill out the paperwork to be on the roster of voters. And then of course the third number is those who actually vote. Speaker 1: 18:21 And so when we're talking about turnout, it's a percentage of the registered voters who actually Speaker 5: 18:26 Voted. That's true. That's true. If you get all three numbers together, you get a pretty interesting, uh, uh, look at what per voter participation is in the County and how that's changed over time. Speaker 1: 18:37 Let's get into some of our numbers, start with the turnout this year. Speaker 5: 18:41 Well, it was 83.5%, the registered voters, which was just shy of the record, which we set, uh, way back in 2008 at 83.7% of the voters. Speaker 1: 18:52 And we should note 2008. Of course was the year when, uh, Barack Obama was running and generated a lot of excitement among a lot of voters. Um, now how did the turnout in 2020 compare with voter turnout and other big years, uh, what about the number regarding eligible voters? Speaker 5: 19:08 Well, so eligible voters, that number actually jumped up quite a bit, that the percentage of eligible voters, who, again, looking at 2008, Oh, that was about 60.7% this year. It was 73.5%. So a big jump in the number of people who could possibly vote, who actually wound up participating. Speaker 1: 19:27 The population has grown year to year in San Diego, but that doesn't account for the big jump in the number of people voting. Speaker 5: 19:33 No, it really doesn't. I mean, if you look at 2016, the last election, and now, I mean, the population went up by about 23,000 people. The number of eligible voters and the actual number of votes cast went up by close to almost 300,000. Speaker 1: 19:48 This year was unique. We're all living through this pandemic. We've done countless stories on this and this relates to it as well. Of course, remind us the ways that voting was different here this year than in past years. Speaker 5: 19:59 Well, this was the first time California's ever done an all male election. So everybody who was a registered voter received a ballot in the mail weeks ahead of election day. And then they had, you know, various options for how to return it. So a lot more options for voting this year. And that's one of the reasons, uh, experts think the turnout and numbers went up this year is because there's just a lot more opportunity for people to participate this time. So you make Speaker 1: 20:24 It easier to vote and guess what people vote Speaker 5: 20:27 Novel concept. Speaker 1: 20:28 Does it seem we're going to see universal mail ballots and extended days in which to vote and for people to turn them in or vote in person and our elections going on? Speaker 5: 20:37 I suspect we will. I mean, in fact, just, uh, just this week, a bill was introduced in the state legislature to do that. So, you know, it'll either happen, um, at the state level or you'll see more counties starting to do it. Um, the counties would prefer the state to do it cause in the state pays for it. Speaker 1: 20:55 I want to ask you about what we're learning from this election now, and maybe it's a little bit soon, but, uh, are there any changes proposed or maybe technology going forward to make it even easier to vote? And, um, what about, uh, fraud and, uh, how they may safeguard against? Speaker 5: 21:11 Well, so there are some, uh, are some reforms and changes coming on. In fact, for this election in California, they used, what's known as Abe Paul books at the various polling places where people showed up to vote in person in the past. If they showed up at the wrong place where there were other problems they'd have to vote by provisional ballot this time, they could look them up on the computer and find out whether they'd already voted with a mail ballot or whether they, uh, when they could allow them to vote in the wrong polling place. Actually, you know, one of the fraud, interesting things about fraud is there actually a number of things that are built into the system to protect the integrity of the election. One of them is, is, uh, balance to get rejected for a variety of reasons. The most common reason they get rejected in San Diego and across the state is because people turn in the ballots too late. Another one, another reason they get rejected is because, uh, the signatures don't match and the voter does it. Isn't able to correct that, um, discrepancy before all the ballots have to be counted. So to many people, the fact that those things happen is proof that the election does have integrity in their safeguards against the fraud. So they're still, we're still stir learning in the coming weeks exactly how many ballots, uh, got rejected this time. But during the March primary, it was about a hundred thousand ballots statewide got rejected for those various reasons. Speaker 1: 22:29 And still that's a very small percentage, but not insignificant Speaker 5: 22:32 Mean it's a very small percentage, only about one and a half percent statewide. And in the County, it was about 1%. But as we see in election after election, every vote counts, you know, we had a race out and water Springs and the education that school board district, where for one of the seats, two of the candidates wound up tied 352 votes each it's the first election that Michael VU could remember where he actually certified a tie. And now, uh, we had a story in the paper today. They're going to settle that by a coin flip. Speaker 1: 23:01 Oh, it's amazing that it can't get much closer than that. And of course we saw variations of this more accessible voting, uh, in States and localities across the country. And it, and it varied in various places. But generally you'd say across the country, it was easier for people to vote. Speaker 5: 23:17 Yeah, I think that that's true. And as you said, there were different rules in different places, but, um, it was, uh, generally regarded as successful in most of the places that the trial Speaker 1: 23:27 Now, San Diego is a solidly blue place these days, California is, but nobody's idea of a swing state. Uh, so we've seen none of the antiques and legal shenanigans here that are taking place in Georgia and Michigan and Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. Yet your story notes, election officials across California have dealt with endless questions about mail-in and fraud. Tell us about that. Speaker 5: 23:47 Yeah. They, um, they even here, I mean, Michael VU said, you know, they had to deal with, uh, phone calls coming in all the time and even after the election, in fact, more so after the election, because of the claims that were going on from the president and his allies about fraud. So up and down the state, the registrars reported to the, uh, to, uh, Cal matters, which is, uh, which is a nonprofit website. And they did a survey and 50, 54 of the 58 registrars. And they found that misinformation in all forms was rampant during the election. So Speaker 1: 24:20 They're getting questions about this and questions about fraud, but nobody in California is claiming a fraud here. Even the president hasn't gone that far. I don't, Speaker 5: 24:30 Well, no, he has targeted California because as you said, it wasn't a swing state of it swung against him this time. But, um, Michael VU and other registrars show, I've talked to over the months reporting on this election and others said, there's no evidence of widespread abuse. You know, they may encounter one or two instances during an election. They refer those to the local authorities to be prosecuted, Speaker 1: 24:52 Right. And guests and I, plus my colleagues in their interviews have addressed this critical point again and again, and KPBS and coverage of this election. But I'll ask it again. Is there any evidence of widespread fraud involving mail-in ballots as Donald Trump continues to claim what election officials say about this? Speaker 5: 25:08 Well, I haven't interviewed an election official yet. Who agrees with that? That there's widespread fraud, uh, in the election process. In fact, it was examined, you know, by the, by the federal government agency this year that found it could be safest, most secure election we've ever had. Yeah. Speaker 1: 25:23 And I think Donald Trump fired an official for saying that himself. So we'll see what happens going forward between now and January 20th. I've been speaking with reporter John Wilkins of the San Diego union Tribune. Thanks very much, John. Thanks for having me Mark that wraps up another week of stories at the KPBS round table. I'd like to thank my guests, Andrew Bowen of KPBS news and David Garrick and John Wilkins of the San Diego union Tribune. A reminder, all of the stories we discussed today can be found on our website, kpbs.org. I'm Mark Sauer. Thanks for listening and join us again next week on the round table.