Candidates for San Diego City Council District 3, which stretches from downtown to North Park, argued this week about historic homes, police funding, neighborhood groups and the prospect of replacing San Diego Gas & Electric.
Challenger Kate Callen criticized incumbent Stephen Whitburn for endorsing a new city plan to review and potentially loosen rules protecting historic buildings.
“Our historic structures in District 3 are our treasures,” Callen said. “They don’t have to be mowed down and a 17-story thing put on top.”
Whitburn said he doesn’t subscribe to the idea that San Diego must choose between building badly needed affordable housing and preserving historic buildings.
“We can have both, and we should have both,” Whitburn said.
He said it won’t be hard to preserve historic structures that genuinely contribute to neighborhoods, but that reviewing the rules makes sense because they sometimes go too far.
“I do take exception to folks who want to designate everything that’s 45 years and older,” he said.
Coleen Cusack, another challenger, agreed with Whitburn that the city may be reviewing too many structures for historical significance.
“There needs to be a better balancing when we’re having a shelter crisis, a housing crisis and a homelessness crisis,” she said. “Our treasures are our people.”
Ellis California Jones said residents wouldn’t feel the need to use historic designations as a last resort to fight high-rise housing if city officials were more transparent about plans for large projects.
On law enforcement funding, Cusack said she’d like to shift money out of the police budget to support redesigning city streets to make crime less likely. She also criticized how much city police focus on the local homeless population.
Jones said he wouldn’t change the size of the police budget but suggested officers could be more cleverly deployed.
Whitburn said it’s crucial to fill vacant police officer positions so that police can respond faster to non-emergency calls. But he said the answer is better recruiting, not higher salaries.
Callen said talk of shifting money away from the Police Department is crazy.
“Public safety is of paramount importance for a city government,” she said.
The candidates also disagreed on a new effort to diversify the city’s neighborhood planning groups with more young people and renters, which could lead to the ouster of the Uptown Planning Group that now represents Hillcrest and nearby areas.
City officials say they will decide this spring whether to replace the existing group with a rival group called Vibrant Uptown.
Callen criticized the effort as an attempt by Mayor Todd Gloria to wipe out community opposition to proposals for high-rise housing in the area with a slate of leaders he would control.
“They will be handpicked by the mayor,” said Callen, stressing that the existing group was elected by residents. “You can’t create lasting diversity by overturning elections.”
Cusack said the effort continues a pattern of the mayor trying to stifle dissent.
“We’ve got an administration that thinks it knows everything and that it doesn’t need to hear from anyone,” she said.
While Whitburn didn’t endorse allowing Vibrant Uptown to replace the Uptown Planning Group, he said it’s troubling when groups don’t match the area they represent regarding age, homeownership and other criteria.
“I think it’s really important that the community planning groups be as representative of the community as possible,” he said.
He stressed that members of the rival group would have to stand for election quickly after taking over.
Jones said he strongly supports more diversity on planning groups but added that he doubts whether the city can successfully force it.
On SDG&E, Cusack said she strongly supports a proposal to replace the utility company with a city-run power provider. Its supporters say the proposal, which could be on the November ballot, would lower rates and allow for use of more renewable energy sources.
“We can’t do much worse than we’re doing now,” Cusack said.
Callen said it sounds like a good idea, but the city must be careful not to make a bad situation worse.
“We need to replace SDG&E, but not let’s go from the frying pan to the fire,” she said.
Whitburn said he’d like to continue exploring the option but doubts that it’s feasible because the city would have to spend billions buying infrastructure from SDG&E.
Jones said he’s open to the idea.
Whitburn, Cusack and Callen are Democrats, while Jones is a Republican. Whitburn and Jones live downtown, while Cusack and Callen live in North Park.
The top two finishers in the March 5 primary will advance to a November runoff. That’s true even if one of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote in March.
The forum, held Monday in Bankers Hill, was sponsored by the League of Women Voters.