Carlyn Christianson answers a question from the audience as Paul Brown, (left) and Donald Hedrick (right) look on.
Mail-in ballots for the open San Luis Obispo City Council seat have been sent out to voters. Earlier this month the SLO Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum to help its members further understand where the candidates stand on important issues.
The race initially garnered a lot of attention after opening in late February with seven people pulling papers to run, but that number has since dropped to three. Most recently, candidate Kevin P. Rice dropped out at the start of the Chamber’s Meet the Candidates event at the City/County Library.
Rice then threw his endorsement behind candidate Paul Brown and asked all in attendance to do the same.
The remaining three candidates–Carlyn Christianson, Donald Hedrick and Brown–fielded questions from the audience on topics including the City’s fiscal responsibility, barriers impeding local businesses, the location of the proposed homeless services center and other issues facing the city.
“The biggest issue facing San Luis Obispo in the next two years, if you want to hold it to two years, is the update of the Land Use and Circulation Element,” Christianson said. “That will decide what happens in the next 20 years, including things like where to put the homeless shelter and what our circulation looks like on Broad Street, on South Higuera and on freeway overpasses.”
Brown agreed on the importance of the LUCE update but focused mainly on the importance of investing in economic development.
“If we do not invest in San Luis Obispo and create a diversity of industries, we cannot continue to invest in the other things that we enjoy and appreciate such as investing in the creek or open space or the other things we identify as being unique about San Luis Obispo,” Brown said.
When asked if the City of San Luis Obispo has gone far enough to rein in costs with recent fiscal oversight Hedrick said that more “belt tightening” was needed and that the City should not just focus on downtown.
“We could do a lot for the whole town instead of focusing on a limited area,” Hedrick said.
Brown said that Measures A and B, which ended binding arbitration, provided the City the ability to invest in infrastructure for the first time since the passage of Measure Y, the half-cent sales tax approved in 2006. Funds from Measure Y were intended to support major improvements such as public safety, street paving, senior services, open-space preservation among other things. He suggested that pension reform should be the City’s main focus.
“I think that we should continue to look at areas where we can save money but I think we need to continue the pension reform and continue the investment in infrastructure,” Brown said.
Christianson said that more can always be done to improve budgets and bottom lines. She spoke about her support for Measures A and B as well as how she will “continue to support fiscal solvency over any special interest group, including our own employees.”
Workforce housing was largely seen as the biggest barrier facing local businesses as the City implements its Economic Development Strategic Plan.
“You have people who are wanting to be here and want to work but it’s hard for two people to be able to afford to live and work in San Luis Obispo,” said Brown, the founder and former owner of Mother’s Tavern. “I think that one thing that we can definitely do is work on building more workforce housing, more entry level housing, so that people who are just beginning their careers have a place to live here and are not having to commute 15 or 20 miles out of town.”
Christianson mentioned her experience as a City and County planning commissioner and said her early suggestions while serving as commissioner to build mixed-use housing and increased density could maintain the city’s high quality of life.
“That doesn’t come by accident,” Christianson said. “That comes from planning and that’s what I’ve been doing for 10 years.”
Each of the three candidates said they do not support the current proposed location of the Homeless Services Center on South Higuera Street. Christianson even offered $1,000 to support the engineering feasibility study at the 40 Prado Road location and suggested that other local businesses also contribute.
“Let’s get going,” Christianson said. “If we want to look at a different alternative, let’s do it. I’ve got my $1,000. I’d love to hear from Chamber folks to help with the rest of it.”
Brown referenced the $1 million state grant to build the 200-bed center as well as the budget and financing that it would take to run a shelter of that size.
“It doesn’t make sense to rush into a process when we don’t have the structure to pay for the rest of it, nor finance the maintenance of it and the staffing of it once it’s built,” Brown said.
Hedrick voiced his concern about the center “doing a disservice to our homeless population.”
“I think it’s too big and an unhealthy approach,” Hedrick said.
Ballots must be returned to the City Clerk’s Office by 8 p.m. on June 18. The City has until July 12 to announce the results.