New Council Members Drafting a Heavy Agenda for ‘Day One’

Flush from their victories in Tuesday’s election, the four incoming San Diego City Council freshmen on Wednesday began formulating an early wish list of priorities on district and citywide issues that they will carry with them to City Hall next month.

Clearly relishing the prospect of assuming the offices that cost nearly $2 million and months of campaigning to achieve, the four councilmen-elect quickly began preparing to, as 2nd District winner Ron Roberts put it, “hit the ground running . . . at full speed” when they are sworn in next month.

“There’s a lot to be done and we don’t have the luxury of slowly sliding in to the job,” 4th District victor Wes Pratt explained. “We’ve got to get to it starting on Day One.”

High on their list of priorities are approval of a new city growth-management plan, possibly reversing the council’s decision to spend as much as $1.5 billion on a secondary sewage treatment plant, and finding a new method to honor slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the wake of voters’ decision Tuesday to change the name of Martin Luther King Way back to Market Street.

The impending 50% turnover on the council also raises obvious--and, at this point, largely unanswerable--questions about how the new members will mesh with the existing members, perhaps alter the council’s philosophical balance or affect Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s ability to control a working majority on the council.

Recognizing that their election constitutes the most dramatic reshaping of the council in a decade, the four victors, far from giving the impression that they might be timid or deferential in their early months in office, are acutely aware of their forthcoming clout.

Indeed, 8th District Councilman-elect Bob Filner suggested that the key question is not how well the four freshmen will get along with the existing council members, but rather how well the existing council will get along with the freshmen. In short, the four freshmen may arrive at City Hall as a voting bloc to be reckoned with in their own right, Filner said.

“We’re going into office as a coalition of sorts,” Filner said. “People may wonder how or where the mayor and the current council members might get votes from us. But, on the other hand, with four of us coming in, we only need to pick up one vote to do what we want, too.

“We’ve just come through a very intense experience together. For the past seven weeks, we’ve been together every day. We got to know each other pretty well, we’ve learned from each other, heard and borrowed ideas from each other, and have developed a lot of mutual respect. There’s also a general consensus among us on the major issues. That’s a coalition-forging experience that I’d like to continue in some way.”

To “maintain the cohesiveness” among the incoming members, Filner hopes to persuade the three other councilmen-elect to join him in a “freshman caucus” that would meet later this month--an idea that appeals to his colleagues.

“We have developed a camaraderie, an esprit de corps,” Pratt said. “We’ve got much more common ground than differences among us. This might be a good way to take the feelings that developed among us in the campaign and keep it alive.”

Although O’Connor endorsed only Roberts, the mayor, eager to develop a rapport with her other soon-to-be colleagues, predicted Wednesday that she would be able to work well with them.

“When you were listening to the candidates, they were really mirroring most of my personal philosophy as it relates to the issues,” O’Connor said at a City Hall news conference. “So, I’m very comfortable with the ones who got elected if they vote the way they talk. There’s going to be absolutely no problem, because our philosophies are basically the same.”

Final unofficial results from Tuesday’s election showed that:

- Roberts, former chairman of the San Diego Planning Commission, defeated public relations consultant Byron Wear, 90,023 votes (54.2%) to 76,015 votes (45.8%), in the race for the 2nd District seat being vacated by retiring Councilman Bill Cleator.

- Pratt, executive assistant to County Supervisor Leon Williams, swamped the Rev. George Stevens by a nearly 3-to-1 margin, 122,228 votes (74.5%) to 41,838 (24.5%), in the 4th District to succeed former Councilman William Jones, who recently resigned to attend Harvard Business School.

- Henderson, a lawyer, narrowly defeated lawyer Bob Ottilie, 84,335 votes (51.5%) to 79,402 votes (48.5%), to win the 6th District seat now occupied by Mike Gotch.

- Filner, a professor at San Diego State University and former San Diego city school board member, defeated lawyer Michael Aguirre, 92,191 votes (54.2%) to 77,980 votes (45.8%) in the 8th District, now represented by Celia Ballesteros.

In accordance with remarks that they frequently made throughout the campaign, each of the four new councilmen on Wednesday identified development of a new city growth-management plan as their top priority.

“That may be No. 1 on the agenda for most of the next year,” said Roberts, who helped draft the Interim Development Ordinance approved by the council last summer that imposed tough restrictions on residential development.

The four freshmen also concur unanimously in their desire to see the council move expeditiously to find a new way to honor Martin Luther King, after city voters rescinded the council’s 1986 decision to rename Market Street in his honor. Several suggested that the new downtown convention center might be named after King, while others said they were open-minded about the possibilities.

“It’s important that we make sure that this vote isn’t perceived as racist,” Henderson said. “The best way to do that is to move ahead quickly to find a suitable way to honor Dr. King. And this time, we should handle it differently, so that we arrive at a consensus decision that won’t create the disagreement we had on Market Street.”

Not content to merely have an impact on future actions, at least several of the new councilmen also hope to, in a sense, change the past at City Hall by encouraging the council to reconsider its controversial decision to build a $1.5-billion secondary sewage treatment plant. The city should focus instead, they argue, on water reclamation--an approach that, they say, not only would meet sewage treatment needs, but also could address the city’s long-term water needs.

“There’s no way I’m going to sit back and watch that kind of money be spent on a plan to clean up water before dumping it in the ocean, without going down kicking and screaming,” said Henderson, who made the proposed plant a major issue in his campaign. “If you thought there was a taxpayer revolt at the time of Proposition 13, just wait until people realize their sewer rates are going to go up 400% to pay for this.”

Each of Tuesday’s victors also hopes to quickly put his signature on his new office by addressing issues of particular concern to his district. For Roberts, that means pushing the San Diego Unified Port District to phase in tougher guidelines that would require airlines to use newer, quieter planes at Lindbergh Field--a plan that could alleviate the longstanding airport noise complaints in the 2nd District, parts of which lie under the airport’s flight path.

“It’s a simple thing, but the port’s been totally negligent up to this point,” Roberts said.

Henderson said Mission Bay pollution will receive much of his early attention, while Filner will follow through on a campaign pledge by opening a South Bay regional office.

Pratt plans to begin laying the groundwork for his proposed “Neighborhood Academies,” in which schools, churches and other sites would be used for after-school “youth diversion” programs ranging from remedial academic lessons to job-training classes.

“We’re finally where we all wanted to be,” Pratt said. “We’ve been talking about these things all year. Now we’re in a position--or we will be soon--to do something about them.”

Election Results San Diego City Council 868 of 868 Precincts Reporting

District 2

Votes % Ron Roberts 90,023 54.2 Byron Wear 76,015 45.8

District 4

Votes % Wes Pratt 122,228 74.5 George L. Stevens 41,838 25.5

District 6

Votes % Bruce Henderson 84,335 51.5 Bob Ottilie 79,402 48.5

District 8

Votes % Bob Filner 92,191 54.2 Mike Aguirre 77,980 45.8