Dark-horse candidates Jim Morrison and Mark Schwartz present striking contrasts in ideas and ideology to more mainstream political adversaries Sarah Boot and Lorie Zapf in the City Council District 2 City primary race on June 3. Morrison, a property manager and past member of the Pacific Beach Planning Group, is running for City Council because he said he’s been “disappointed in the city’s direction the last 10 years.
“We’ve been watching companies go, and the middle class seems to be taking a beating,” said Morrison, adding he has a five-point corrective plan.
“My plan is to increase shipping for our cargo port, dedicate a rail line east to Imperial County and Arizona, expand from two to five the ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, talk about trading Lindbergh Field with the Marines at Miramar and find more ways to manufacture things here,” he said.
Schwartz, an organic fertilizer marketer/consul-tant who helps farmers convert to organics and increase their yields, is a member of the Libertarian Party who said his slogan is “less government, more freedom.”
A firm believer in laissez-faire economics, Schwartz said he opposes restrictions on personal freedom like the beach-alcohol ban, insisting government is best which governs least.
“We’re headed down a scary road. $17 trillion in debt with deficit spending and (political) cronyism,” said Schwartz. “I’m just a freedom fighter who wants to give people options.”
Schwartz is a big advocate of privitization, which he defined as “removing the bureaucracy from all city services.”
“The goal is to bring in more competition, have more clarity, lower the tax burden, make things more efficient,” he said.
Morrison said he’d like to explore swapping Lindbergh Field for Miramar Marine Corps Air Station because he’d like to San Diego become an international air destination like Los Angeles, as well as a hub of economics on the Pacific Rim.
“Instead of being a spoke of Los Angeles, we ought to have our own international airport,” he said, adding there needs to be a better job of marketing done to “attract companies to San Diego.” “We don’t have that business structure in place,” he said.
Morrison said the city ought to have a “century plan for the next 100 years,” rather than “taking things piecemeal or five or 10 years at a time.
“We need to have a visionary plan,” he said. He said he’s also concerned about “homelessness, medical marijuana, qualify of life and infrastructure problems with wastewater pipes and storm drains.”
Schwartz said public legislators should decline all office perks. “I reject pensions, 401(k)s, car credits, junkets,” he said, while offering a promise.
“If I’m elected, I’ll take 50 percent less than my pay,” he said. “City servants are making far too much money.”
Other novel ideas offered by Schwartz included setting up a whisteblower hotline to allow people to report government abuses of any kind.
Schwartz said lowering the tax burden is a high priority for him.
“We’re triple taxed on our water by the city, county and state,” he said. “Our room (transient occupancy tax) bed taxes are one of the highest in the nation for people coming here to vacation. I would relieve the taxpayers’ burden and get the city working harder and more efficiently.”