Focus of S.D. mayor’s race hugely recast by virus crisis

The fall election is a distant thought, if that, in the minds of many San Diegans.

But eventually voters will have to elect a new mayor who must navigate through the ongoing crisis caused by COVID-19 or, at best, guide a difficult recovery.

What life will look like in just a couple of months — let alone the more than seven months to November — seems impossible to predict. Under the most optimistic scenarios, the health, economic and societal impacts from the novel coronavirus will still be felt.

Much of what Assemblyman Todd Gloria and his likely mayoral opponent, City Council member Barbara Bry, were talking about just a few weeks ago have lost their relevance for now. The world has changed that much. Housing development, mass transit, shortterm vacation rentals and scooters were issues of great importance to many people, but have disappeared for the time being and probably for a good while to come.

The unfortunate exception is homelessness, which was a serious problem then and a potentially devastating one now.

Local governments are quickly stripping down to provide core services such as police and fire protection, water and sewage service, and trash pickup and road repair.

Coming revenue shortages could be huge and may stress even those essential services. The city of San Diego, for example, already was facing an $84 million budget shortfall when the economy was humming. The city’s near-term forecast showed continued deficits in the next few years “that could become much worse if there is an economic downturn,” David Garrick of The San Diego Union-tribune wrote in November.

Back then, people were talking in terms of a typical economic slowdown. No one could have imagined what may be coming now. Unemployment is skyrocketing, businesses will be shuttered for who knows how long and the tourism industry has collapsed, at least for now.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who is termed out of office at the end of the year, put it in stark terms last week. He warned the City Council the impacts on the city budget will be “far greater than those of 9/11.”

San Diego is by no means alone, as other municipalities and school districts have regularly struggled to avoid deficits.

The overarching focus of government and politics in San Diego has long been on improving the quality of life. Now the concern is for the physical and economic survival of hundreds of thousands of people.

That may mean voters will be more concerned about candidates’ skill sets regarding financial acumen, crisis management and leadership rather than their stand on any particular issue. That’s certain to become a major factor in the race for mayor in California’s second-largest city.

Gloria and Bry are Democrats who share much of the same space on broad political issues, even though most of the primary campaign was focused on their differences on the aforementioned municipal matters.

While neither candidate is doing much regarding the campaign now — and not just because Bry has yet to clinch a runoff spot — they eventually will be pointing to their backgrounds, experience and personal attributes to demonstrate why they are

the best choice to lead San Diego during what could be an extraordinarily difficult time.

Both are familiar with the levers of the city’s government.

Gloria, 41, served on the City Council for eight years, about half of that as chair of the Budget and Governmental Efficiency Committee. That period included the post-recession rebuilding of the city budget by thenmayor Jerry Sanders. He also served as council president.

Gloria was briefly interim mayor in the wake of the sexual harassment scandal that forced then-mayor Bob Filner to resign in August 2013.

Bry, 70, is finishing her first four-year term, after a successful career as a hightech entrepreneur. She started several companies,

most notably Proflowers.com, that employed hundreds of people. She earned a master’s degree in business from Harvard.

She is currently chair of the budget committee and has a reputation for challenging the policies and direction of both Faulconer and City Attorney Mara Elliott.

Gloria also brings to the table a broad coalition that backs him, which includes most labor organizations, the local Democratic Party and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. He says that shows he has the ability to achieve necessary consensus to get things done.

This isn’t to say those entities wouldn’t rally behind Bry if she becomes mayor. She has had good relations with many of those interests and their endorsement decisions were based more on what they like about Gloria than what they don’t about her.

Still, Bry has portrayed herself as something of an outsider fighting an entrenched political establishment and an ineffective City Hall.

Those differences are reflected in their campaign themes.

“It’s time for a mayor who works for all of us,” says Gloria’s website.

“A problem-solver. Not a politician,” is how Bry’s describes her.

The slogans may be among the few things that remain unchanged as the campaign heads into uncharted territory.

Tweet of the Week

Goes to Emily Alpert Reyes (@Alpertreyes) of the Los Angeles Times.

“Working from home with a toddler is fantastic if you want to simultaneously feel like a terrible parent and a terrible employee.”