O’Connor’s Quiet Message

Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s State of the City address last week underscored the image she began developing in her first six months in office as a lunch-pail mayor.

For the most part eschewing high-toned phrases and lofty goals, O’Connor made it clear that she wants to be seen not as a visionary leader but as someone who can take care of business. This stands in sharp contrast to her two most recent predecessors, Pete Wilson and Roger Hedgecock, who made their marks by keeping firm control of the public agenda and taking the city in new and important directions.

O’Connor’s speech left little in the way of benchmarks by which she can be measured in the future. It did, however, point to areas she believes need attention. Her top priority is improving the city’s financial position, and her strategy is to lobby decision makers in Sacramento and Washington to press for enhancements in San Diego’s share of the state and national pies. She also created a committee of business leaders to help the city develop its financial strategy.

If there is a subject to rival city finances for being unglamorous, it must be sewage. The mayor has correctly identified the city’s numerous sewage problems--including protecting Mission Bay from incessant sewage leaks--as an area of major concern.

Unlike Wilson and Hedgecock, O’Connor shows little interest in being a political lightning rod. For example, she noted in her speech “the decline of esteem in the Police Department” but said little about how to turn it around. She steered clear of specific proposals concerning the use of Navy Hospital property and structures that will be turned over to the city next year, but later her staff said she favors restoring the bulk of the land to park status and saving only three of the buildings.

O’Connor plans to bring a more specific blueprint of her goals before the City Council next month in the form of a legislative agenda. It will be interesting to see how that fills out the sketch she provided in her State of the City talk.

Nothing says that quiet leadership can’t be effective leadership, and O’Connor is entitled to develop her own style.

But on certain issues, such as the ethical questions that have confronted the Police Department and the future of Balboa Park, the public should be able to look to the mayor for visible leadership and to set the tone of the debate.