STORIES TO WATCH IN 2013
Bob’s Three Big Promises The new mayor wants to expand the port, solar power the city and diversify its power structure. Here’s how he’ll do it and some of the challenges he’ll face. BY LIAM DILLON
SAM HODGSON FOR VOSD
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HAT IF SAN DIEGO could be the first major city to end homelessness? What if it could develop a new rapid bus program that ran with the frequency of a subway? What if the city and private sector gave all children places to go before and after school? Those hypotheticals were all introduced by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner on the campaign trail — he often articulated his vision for the city by posing questions. Here’s another question: When is Filner using soaring rhetoric and when is he actually promising to do something? His style can make nailing down campaign pledges tough. Filner has made his big-picture plan for the city clear: Turn the people and issues long marginalized in city politics into decision-makers and policy priorities. That includes naming environmental, neighborhood and open-government advocates as key advisers and pushing for alternative energy and port industrial development. Here are three of Filner’s big promises in those areas and some of the hurdles he’ll face in accomplishing them.
January 2013 VOSD MONTHLY
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