Candidates for the San Diego City Council District 1 seat expressed their opinions on many of the area’s controversial topics during their first debate since June’s primaries. Democrat Sherri Lightner and Republican Phil Thalheimer expressed their contrasting views regarding many of La Jolla and UC’s most controversial issues, from the Regents Road Bridge project to Hillel’s proposed Jewish student center. But both candidates also agreed on several key points affecting the community during the Oct. 15 debate, held at University City High School. It was sponsored by the University City Community Association and moderated by the League of Women Voters. Thalheimer, owner of a flight school, agreed with Historical Society member Lightner that the historic Torrey Pines Gliderport should remain operational while still allowing the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine to build its stem cell research center. “As a member of the historical society, I fully support that,” Lightner said. “The stem cell center won’t jeopardize it as much as the 12-story building [proposed] across the street.” “The deal with the stem cell issue comes down to the crash zone … It can be preserved for both,” Thalheimer said. Both candidates claimed to be proponents of green energy. Lightner advocated “hopping on the green train” with a plan for the future, including partnering with the university, while Thalheimer said he wants the city to purchase fossil fuel vehicles and the university to test electric vehicles. When asked about the Regents Road Bridge proj-ect in University City, both candidates said they support more fire stations — one argument used to support the project. But Lightner said she was against the project, while Thalheimer said he would support it. “I do not support Regents Road [Bridge] because it will not deliver what has been promised,” Lightner said. Lightner said South UC needs fire safety now. “I agree. This area needs fire safety,” Thalheimer said. “I believe the bridge warrants the support.” While both candidates said they would support the Chargers, within fiscal reason, the two disagreed on the Jewish student center Hillel, a project the organization proposed to build at La Jolla Village Drive. “I support Hillel fully, but a single family residential zone is not the place. It belongs in a multi-family, multi-use zone,” Lightner said. “They need to go ahead and build it,” Thalheimer said. “I support it. I was a director on Hillel … It has to be within walking distance from the school.” Although city council seats are technically nonpartisan, recent data from the registrar of voters showed a shift in party registration over the past year. The shift represents a Republican lack of interest nationally and may help Lightner get elected in a traditionally Republican seat, said Thad Kousser, department of political science at the University of California, San Diego. “You can be a Democrat representing a Republican area, but it certainly helps the cause of Sherri Lightner,” Kousser said. Termed-out District 1 City Councilman Scott Peters is a Democrat. From November 2007 to September 2008, the District 1 Republican Party added 43 voters, while the Democratic Party added 3,416 voters, according to data gathered from the Registrar of Voters and provided by Bruce Lightner, of Sherri Lightner’s San Diego City Council District 1 campaign. While this surge didn’t swing the parties, creating a majority of Democratic voters in District 1, it leveled the political playing field. Currently District 1 contains 36 percent registered Republicans to 34 percent registered Democrats. There may be myriad reasons for the increase in Democratic voter registrations, Kousser said, including a four-year voting registration cycle to an increase in the Democratic Party’s bank account to Republicans changing parties or declining to state. But Kousser said the Republican-leaning area is transitioning to a more Democratic community as more workers move into the area, taking biotech jobs instead of traditionally conservative roles such as attorneys. “This is a kind of loss for Republicans,” Kousser said. “This is consistent with what we see overall. The Democrats are excited about this election and the party has a lot of money to register new voters.” After speaking with people inside the Democratic Party, Lightner agreed with Kousser’s sentiment. “There has been a push by the Democratic Party to register Democratic voters to get the [Barack] Obama vote out,” Lightner said. But Thalheimer is endorsed by several prominent Republicans, including Mayor Jerry Sanders, Congressman Brian Bilbray and Senator Mark Wyland. He promised to eliminate wasteful spending and said his first job would be public safety. District 1 includes La Jolla, Bird Rock, University City, Carmel Valley, Del Mar Heights, Rancho Penasquitos, Rose Canyon, UCSD, Torrey Pines, Torrey Hills, Sorrento Valley, Sorrento Hills, and the Lower San Dieguito River Valley. For more information about the League of Women’s Voters, go to, www.lwvsandiego.org. For more information about the University City Community Association, go to www.ucca-news.org. Both candidates can be reached via their Web sites. For more information about Thalheimer, go to www.philforcouncil.com. For more information about Lightner, go to www.sherrilightner.org.