FAULCONER LEAVES BEHIND A MIXED LEGACY

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer is out of office and in the mix to challenge Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. But his record as mayor is remarkably checkered for a potential 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate in the nation’s largest state, where only two Republicans have won statewide office this century — a Hollywood action hero as governor in 2003 and 2006 and a tech titan (who has since left the party) as insurance commissioner in 2006.

Faulconer replaced disgraced former Mayor Bob Filner in 2014 and easily won re-election in 2016. Then his second term was rocky. Now the former San Diego State University student body president, public relations executive and city councilmember has a history at City Hall that will be cherry-picked by admirers and critics alike to paint a portrait of a mayor who did well in trying circumstances or one who was in over his head. He deserves praise for how he helped the city’s homeless population and how he managed the pandemic. Yet in major ways, he mismanaged the mayor’s office as never before.

The good: Yes, Downtown residents, office workers and visitors can complain about how homelessness affects their quality of life. But the annual count of homeless people in the city in early 2020 showed a 12 percent drop in unsheltered people from early 2019. This is partly explained by changes in methodology, but San Diego’s response to homelessness is statistically superior to other large California cities. San Diego leaders’ decisions to devote resources and attention to homelessness for safe parking lots, storage centers, and bridge and other shelters paid off. The decision to turn the convention center into a homeless shelter during the pandemic worked so well that new Mayor Todd Gloria may keep it open another three months. Faulconer deserves credit for his decisive actions on this front.

On environmental issues, Faulconer worked with the City Council to formulate a far-reaching Climate Action Plan in 2015 that aims to cut half of city greenhouse-gas emissions by 2035. In 2014, he won approval of the Pure Water sewage recycling program that is expected to provide one-third of the city water supplies by 2035. The full history of either won’t be written for years, but on paper, at least, these are bold, praiseworthy accomplishments.

On housing, Faulconer championed accessory dwelling units, fewer parking requirements and increased density in community planning guidelines. The results haven’t been dramatic, but his Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) stand is welcome in an era when too many local officials don’t do enough.

The mixed: On border issues, Faulconer supported the interconnected, enormously productive binational San Diego-tijuana economy, worked with Mexican officials, pushed for Tijuana sewage fixes and created a new immigrant affairs manager position. Yet he voted for Republican President Donald Trump in 2020 — despite his years of vilifying immigrants, especially Mexicans. Faulconer, who touts Trump’s handling of the economy, knows a Trump critic won’t survive a gubernatorial primary election. But in 2016, Faulconer sounded more principled, saying, “I could never vote for Trump. His divisive rhetoric is unacceptable and I just could never support him.” That’s a pretty short “never.”

On policing, Faulconer’s decision to name Shelley Zimmerman as police chief — before he’d been sworn into office — paid off when the police scandals that had been common for years largely disappeared. Faulconer also deserves credit for orchestrating a substantial raise for officers to address concerns about the Police Department losing officers to other agencies after spending heavily on their training and development.

But despite a series of troubling studies that showed San Diego police are more likely to stop people of color than White San Diegans, Faulconer, Zimmerman and David Nisleit — who became chief in 2018 — didn’t do enough to make matters better. And it wasn’t until this June — after the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis and subsequent mass protests — that San Diego police finally stopped allowing the use of the dangerous carotid restraint on suspects. In a year in which profound questions were raised about policing and communities of color, Faulconer mostly stayed clear of the debate.

On public health, a recent Sfgate analysis suggests Faulconer’s COVID-19 controls were better than the state’s in general, with a lower death rate. San Diego County has the lead role in public health efforts, but Faulconer did a good job coordinating with the county, pushing for thoughtful policies and setting a positive example. His aggressive moves to allow outdoor dining areas in restaurant parking lots and nearby sidewalks kept many afloat.

But in 2017, when a hepatitis A outbreak left 20 dead and nearly 600 sick, Faulconer moved too slow. That San Diego was failing in its response was clear to The Guardian, a British newspaper, before it was to Faulconer. That years of warnings went ignored made it a failure of Faulconer’s administration.

The bad: This list includes Faulconer’s inability to win enough support to expand the convention center and his inane secret effort to tilt the field in favor of the Soccercity proposal (which voters roundly rejected) for the Mission Valley stadium site after the Chargers left for Los Angeles — which some will also see as a failure on his part. But two of Faulconer’s mistakes stand out above all others.

The first: In 2016, he won approval of a $30 million Smart Streetlights program billed as a way to save energy by analyzing traffic and parking patterns. After a public uproar that began in 2019 with reports that the city had actually unintentionally set up a mass surveillance system with thousands of cameras and microphones — and then failed to inform residents when police began to use the system — Faulconer in September turned off the devices until an oversight plan was in place. This is a rare scandal: one that is both sinister and goofy.

The worst: Faulconer’s strong push in 2016 for a 20-year, $127 million lease-to-own deal for a 19-story office building at 101 Ash Street. His pitch to the City Council: The $535,000 monthly lease was such a good deal that over 20 years, it would save $44 million in rent payments. Instead, it sits vacant, and its repairs are expected to cost at least $115 million. Worse? The city entered into the deal without evaluating the office tower’s condition, accepting the seller’s representations. Faulconer, amazingly, tries to duck some of the blame with vague “mistakes were made” rhetoric as top officials he hired have left the city. Even if his September decision to suspend lease payments pays off with better terms, this remains a fiasco for the ages. A governor overseeing an alphabet soup of agencies in need of overhauls (DMV, EDD and PUC, to name a few) needs a better record of personnel and management decisions.

The U-T Editorial Board gave Faulconer mixed marks in 2017 and a D- in 2018. Our final grade is a C-.

Affable and upbeat, Kevin Faulconer was a balm in the post-filner era. But ultimately he became the latest in a long list of San Diego mayors who have been mediocre or worse. Here’s hoping new Mayor Todd Gloria avoids this fate. Many challenges await.