SAN DIEGO — At a busy corner in the Skyline neighborhood, City Councilman and mayoral candidate David Alvarez is looking with annoyance at a gravel-strewn lot surrounded by a wire fence.
Inside the fence is an abandoned gas station and tall weeds. The city bought the property a decade ago, promising a fire station. It was never built.
"This eyesore degrades not just property values but also community pride, and that should not happen anywhere in San Diego," Alvarez told a small gathering.
He said that the council had just the day before added the site to a priority list for a fire station.
"We're going in the right direction now," Alvarez said in his characteristic low volume. "And as your mayor, I want to keep that happening."
Amid a hurry-up election to find a replacement for the disgraced Bob Filner, Alvarez has emerged as the surprise of the season, gathering more support, endorsements and donations than many insiders expected.
He still lags behind the better-known front-runners, Councilman Kevin Faulconer and former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, but polls suggest he is gaining. A committee favoring Fletcher attacked Alvarez in a mailer as overly partisan and contributing to "dysfunction and gridlock" in city government.
At 33, he is the youngest of the major candidates, with only three years on the City Council. His message that neighborhoods have suffered in the last decade while the city struggled with financial problems is not unique. All the candidates say much the same.
But Alvarez has an advantage: He's been saying the same thing on the council, often leaving him as the odd man out.
"We got to get him elected to do what we got to do," supporter Kathleen Harmon said.
A Democrat and lifelong resident of San Diego, Alvarez represents a blue-collar district south of Interstate 8 that includes the neighborhoods of Barrio Logan, Golden Hill, Nestor, San Ysidro and the Tijuana River Valley.
More than just an east-west freeway, Interstate 8 is the traditional dividing line of San Diego politics.
When Filner, a Democrat, was elected last November, support from voters south of Interstate 8 was key. Citywide turnout was nearly 80%, driven by the presidential election.
But for the Nov. 19 special election, officials have predicted a turnout of 50%, maybe less, which will probably shift power back to more affluent neighborhoods in La Jolla, Rancho Bernardo, Point Loma and elsewhere where residents have a longer and more predictable history of voting.
Alvarez, elected to the council at age 29, says he is not intimidated.
"This election favors Republicans, so it will favor Kevin Faulconer," he said. "But it also favors well-organized campaigns, and that's me."
Heavily funded by labor unions, Alvarez campaign signs are popping up throughout the city. He was the first candidate to begin television commercials.
His task is to gather votes from outside his district, from north of the freeway, while reinvigorating those who supported Filner.
Alvarez worked well with the bombastic ex-mayor but was among the first council members to urge him to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment.
"He's got Filner's ideology but without Filner's arrogance, personality disorders and delusional view of the world around him," said an endorsement editorial in the liberal weekly San Diego City Beat.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
David Alvarez a surprise contender to replace San Diego ex-mayor Filner
Dengan url
http://penyakitberbahayakan.blogspot.com/2013/11/david-alvarez-surprise-contender-to.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
David Alvarez a surprise contender to replace San Diego ex-mayor Filner
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
David Alvarez a surprise contender to replace San Diego ex-mayor Filner
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar