Three candidates have emerged to tackle a slew of issues facing San Diego City Council District 2, representing Ocean Beach, Point Loma, several other beach communities and the downtown area. In the race are property manager and Pacific Beach resident Jim Morrison; Patrick Finucane of Pacific Beach; and current Councilman Kevin Faulconer of Point Loma. With important issues such as rebuilding city finances, infrastructure repairs, water resources and redevelopment, candidates sound off on what is most important to them and what they would fight for if elected. Primary elections take place June 8. City finances City budget cuts in recent years have taken a toll on city services, including a paring of fire station crews and police department employees, along with cuts to other city services to save the city nearly $180 million. KEVIN FAULCONER As the city’s Audit Committee chair, Faulconer points to areas where city government departments can further streamline business practices to save on wastewater and Water Department costs, the office of the treasurer and printing costs. “We’re streamlining government to provide for quality neighborhood services. I’m proud of my record as chairman of the city’s Audit Committee where we’ve made numerous structural changes to eliminate waste and to get the city’s credit rating restored and back in the infrastructure bond market.” JIM MORRISON A 2001 District 2 City Council candidate, Morrison said making the city business friendly to manufacturers can help dig the city out of a looming budget crisis. “Those jobs with small businesses generate taxes and fees that go back into city coffers. Another program I would like to start is to utilize community storefronts, staffed by retirees that would help with job-skill training for small businesses [to apply] for grants or federal funds. I think that’s an obligation of any generation is to teach the next generation all these things.” He also said that the city should not be borrowing money to fix streets.  PATRICK FINUCANE Finucane said current talks of increasing city tax revenue to the Centre City Development Corporation over the next several decades is the wrong direction for the city when police and fire services should be extended or restored. “70 to 80 percent of roads need repair, but at the same time we’re talking about building and redevelopment. This is the kind of stuff that got us to where we are right now. We’re talking about these projects that sound great, but don’t provide services to the average resident. I’m running because I think we need to provide services.”   Unfunded pension liabilities MORRISON “We need to sit down at the table with the city’s employees and ask them for some concessions … the pie has really grown smaller and we really need to have them meet the city halfway or part of the way to resolve some of the city’s financial shortfalls. It not only affects the safety of the public but it also affects their safety … We can’t [declare] bankruptcy or we’d have to sell Balboa Park and the other jewels we have in this city and nobody would like to see that happen.”   FAULCONER “The city has also moved to a two-tiered pension system, frozen retiree healthcare costs and voters passed Prop B [which states] any increase in pension benefits must be approved by the voters. The biggest challenge that I look forward to tackling in the coming year is a new retiree healthcare system, because the city has an enormous unfunded liability that is unsustainable without significant changes.”  FINUCANE “What the city needs to do is go back and ask voters to raise taxes to pay for [pension liabilities], and if they’re not willing to do that then we have to look at the two-tiered [pension] system.”?  Water The city — and the state as a whole — faces potential water shortages because of ongoing drought conditions and shortages from the Sacramento Delta. Experts say San Diego imports up to 90 percent of it’s water supplies.  FINUCANE Finucane said he would support an indirect potable reuse water plan that would divert part of the flow of wastewater away from the Point Loma wastewater treatment plant. He said this would allow the city to upgrade the wastewater treatment processes and help keep the beach waters a little bit cleaner and more attractive to tourists. “The city should  also come up with a reasonable plan to increase services for residents. Or to reset our priorities and restore the basic services for our city [including] police, fire, clean roads … and clean water.”  FAULCONER “I think it’s a mix [of solutions]. It begins with conservation, and residents in District 2 have done a phenomenal job. The city has cut its use by 13 percent. That [conservation] has to remain our focus because we’re at the end of the pipe from the Colorado supplies. I’m a big proponent of purple pipe system [that recycles water for irrigation uses] and … I also think that desalinization will play an increasingly important role in the future.”  MORRISON San Diego and California should continue to import its water from other states and possibly from Canada, Morrison said. He said he would use his position as councilmember to lobby state legislators to move in that direction. “Shortages keep growing and an effort should be put into that [Northern California] canal. We import coal and other [resources] I don’t see why we can’t import water.”   Important issues MORRISON “I went to [downtown] and talked to them. They want a park. They don’t necessarily want to go to Balboa Park and they want a park down by the water … I want to go to work on that issue.” Morrison added that airport noise issues for the Point Loma communities should be addressed. as well as vacation rentals and the rash of Floatopia parties which could pose a danger to bay revelers. He said addressing those issues would take a lot of time.  FINUCANE “This race is about the priorities and about city government and I think it should be about services and not catering to special interests, like downtown [special interests]. I’m running because I’m hoping to force the city to prioritize our neighborhoods and not special interests [like] downtown developers and hoteliers. Right now the city prioritizes the wrong things …”  FAULCONER “The city of San Diego has to live within its means and that is something that I’m a firm believer in, and we put priorities in neighborhood services and not growing the city’s bureaucracy. I’m fighting for managed competition. That’s the ability of the private sector to come and compete for city services. That will save taxpayers millions of dollars. The voters approved this process two years ago. Some have tried to stop its implementation and I’m fighting for it to be implemented.”