By Linda Armacost & Jeff Benesch

In what is sure to draw region-wide interest and many spectators, the Jan. 6 meeting of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club should be full of fireworks and surprises. The contentious 39th Senatorial District race between incumbent Marty Block, and current Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins should make club history as the 2016 Election Cycle will be kicked off in grand style with an issues-filled debate between these two progressive heroes.

And to top off the evening, we’ll have controversial attorney Cory Briggs present his Citizens’ Plan for San Diego to the gathering. Co-written by Donna Frye, this initiative will conjoin the San Diego River Park concept for the Mission Valley stadium area with plans for both a potential Chargers stadium Downtown and a convention center expansion, both without traditional taxpayer subsidies.

bloque marty

Block was elected in November of 2012 to represent California’s 39th Senate District, including the cities of San Diego, Coronado, Del Mar, and Solana Beach. He chairs the Senate Education Budget Subcommittee, the Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions, the Capitol Knesset, and the Legislative Jewish Caucus.

Block was elected to the California State Assembly in 2008 where he represented the 78th Assembly District until his election to the Senate. He served as chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee for three years.

Senator Block previously served for eight years as a member of the San Diego County Board of Education and then served eight years as President of the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees. During that period, he also served as a San Diego Superior Court Judge pro Tem, Statewide President of the California County Boards of Education, President of the San Diego Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, and Founding Chair of the San Diego Latino/Jewish Coalition.

Block’s most recent notable legislative success would be SB 850: Community College Baccalaureate Degrees. This game-changing legislation for higher education will allow a number of community college districts across the state to develop four-year degree programs, increasing access for quality higher education in areas that have a demonstrated workforce need.

Toni Atkins

Atkins has served in the California State Assembly since 2010 when she succeeded Marty Block in the 78th AD. She was elevated to the top leadership post in 2014, when her colleagues unanimously elected her 69th Speaker of the California Assembly. She previously served eight years on the San Diego City Council, and became a stabilizing force during a tumultuous period in 2005, stepping in as acting mayor after the resignation of Mayor Dick Murphy.

Prior to her election as Speaker, she held the position of Majority Leader. She chaired the Assembly Select Committee on Homelessness, and served on committees on Agriculture, Housing and Community Development, Health, Judiciary, Veterans Affairs, Select Committee on Ports, Select Committee on Biotechnology as well as the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. Atkins believes government policies can improve people’s lives. She is a leading voice for affordable housing, an advocate for womens issues, and a champion for veterans and homeless people.

cory briggs

Briggs will present the Citizens’ Plan for San Diego, an initiative that would authorize the city to use the Mission Valley Qualcomm site for river-park, university-related, and tourism uses should the Chargers decide to leave or go downtown.

These options would have a lower impact on the environment than high-density commercial projects: research facilities instead of office space; student housing instead of high-rises; an educational hub connecting SDSU to UCSD.

The Citizens’ Plan is presented to the voters with an unprecedented commitment to full disclosure — no tricks, no hidden references. It sets the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) at 15.5 percent for the city’s larger hotels, the low end of the average range of TOT rates in major competing cities. The TOT would be 14 percent for lodging businesses with less than 30 rooms.

The plan eliminates a current 4 percent “earmark” of TOT revenues for promoting the city and eliminates the Tourism Marketing District (TMD) now under legal challenge, and replaces both with a more legally supportable, and voluntary, self-assessment program.

Eliminating the earmark will lawfully free up approximately $72 million per year that could then be used to fix streets and sidewalks, build and maintain parks, libraries, and fire stations, and pay for other general governmental services.

The La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club, serves the communities of San Carlos, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, College Area, La Mesa, Santee, Mt. Helix and other East of Interstate 15 neighborhoods and meets the first Wednesday of each month at the La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Drive, just North of University Avenue in La Mesa.

Our meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. with a social half hour with snacks, sweets and beverages, and then down to business at 7 p.m. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis for this extravaganza.

The January meeting will be the second in our series of endorsement votes, with the active membership choosing their preference for whom to support in the 39th San Diego race between Block and Atkins. February will feature debates and endorsements in both the San Diego City Attorney race, and the very local San Diego 7th District election. In March, we’ll hear candidates for the key District 1 election, and also the presidential contest with representatives for Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton all battling for our endorsement.

New members must join the club 30 days prior to each debate to vote on endorsements. Existing dues-paying members must be current in order to vote. See our website or Facebook page for additional details.

––Linda Armacost is president and Jeff Benesch is vice president of programming for the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club.