Hello. This is my first column on these pages. I’ll be here monthly to answer your questions and discuss issues affecting our neighborhoods. Let me first say I’m proud to serve as your city councilmember. I am passionate about protecting the environment, and in District 2 that starts with Mission Bay, San Diego Bay and our beaches. Within the last year, we’ve made important strides, including: Lease money generated in Mission Bay Park will now stay there and be invested at other local parks, thanks to the ballot measure voters passed in November. Our beaches and bays are alcohol-free and family-friendly, thanks to another ballot measure voters supported in November. The handrails on the boardwalk in Mission Beach were replaced, and the city is installing new outdoor showers. In Pacific Beach, we had new lighting installed at the Tot Lot in Kate Sessions Park, and I strongly supported a measure that forces Beach Area Community Court participants to cover a share of the costs. As the former volunteer chairman of the Mission Bay Park Committee, I can’t tell you how happy I am with the support the Mission Bay ballot measure received in November. Voters – 67 percent – overwhelmingly approved this proposition, which I helped draft and campaigned hard for, along with Councilmember Donna Frye. Mission Bay is the largest man-made aquatic park in the world and a San Diego treasure, but improvements have been few and far between. Proposition C, which takes effect July 1, means Mission Bay Park now has a permanent revenue source dedicated to addressing a backlog of capital improvement projects.  The Mission Bay Park Master Plan identified more than $300 million in such improvements 15 years ago – most of which are outstanding and include: Restoration of passable waterways; wetland expansions; restoration of beach sand and the stabilization of erosion; and completion of bicycle and pedestrian paths. From now on, we’re going to do what’s right when it comes to Mission Bay Park, and I will continue to lead that effort while ensuring taxpayers get value for their investment. Locally, police are seeing fewer crimes and fewer problems at our beaches and bays. Alcohol-related crimes in beach communities were down about 17 percent last year over an eight-month period ending Sept. 7. Our beaches and bays are not only safer, they’re cleaner. No longer are we seeing the volume of cans and trash left behind weekend after weekend. As chair of the Audit Committee and vice chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, I’m working to make sure the City has the resources it needs to protect our most treasured assets. My goal, and the goal of the editors at the Beach & Bay Press, is to make this column as interactive as possible. In that spirit, please send questions or issues you’d like vetted to the newspaper, and I’ll respond here in the coming months. You can email your questions to Adriane Tillman at [email protected]. You also can reach me or my staff directly at [email protected] or (619) 236-6622. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at our bays and beaches. City Council Pro Tem Kevin L. Faulconer represents District 2.