KENT LEE HAS EDGE IN CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 6

The race between Democrats Tommy Hough and Kent Lee in San Diego City Council District 6 is the most compelling among the four council elections on the Nov. 8 ballot. Why? One, both candidates are strong. Two, the outcome of all four races, including theirs to succeed termed-out Chris Cate, the council’s lone Republican, could leave nine Democratic council members — but theirs is the only open seat in a city that tends to re-elect incumbents. Three, their policy differences are largely by degree and less common than their similarities. Four, battle lines are being drawn over housing issues and trash collection. And five, after redistricting, District 6 has changed. Ranging west to east from University City and Sorrento Valley to Scripps Ranch and north to south from Mira Mesa to Kearny Mesa, it now excludes Clairemont and is 40 percent Asian American. Voters can’t go wrong, but they have a hard call.

Hough, a county planning commissioner, is a former local radio host who has long supported the environment through Surfrider, San Diego Audubon and the ReWild Mission Bay campaign and as co-founder of the San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action. In Q&As and a forum this week, Hough offered populist criticism of the effectiveness of city climate and housing policies; bemoaned the power of developers and Downtown interests, including Mayor Todd Gloria; and blasted Measure B on the People’s Ordinance as a step toward imposing new trash fees on homeowners who need relief, not new burdens. He advocates for more housing, but he has been critical of certain dense city projects, supports city rent control to help housing affordability and opposes Measure C to eliminate the Midway height limit to redevelop the sports arena site and provide a range of housing.

Until stepping down to focus on his campaign, Lee was the executive director of Pacific Arts Movement, which oversees the popular annual San Diego Asian Film Festival and offers media arts, youth education and culinary programs. The co-chair of the San Diego Asian Pacific Islander Coalition has also been active in the Asian Business Association of San Diego and on the Mira Mesa Community Planning Group. In his Q&As and this week’s forum, he stressed the need to have a much more multifaceted approach to develop housing stock, questions city rent regulation and backed Measure C to transform the sports arena site. He backs Measure B, but that wasn’t a factor in this endorsement. Representation matters, yes, but Lee’s approach to housing also seems more promising, and his support from labor and business groups shows he’s more likely to build coalitions. That gave Lee the edge, in our view. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board endorses Kent Lee for City Council District 6.