Sherri Lightner and Phil Thalheimer began battling for the San Diego City Council District 1 seat June 3 during the primary election. The two will debate Oct. 15 beginning at 6:30 p.m. at University City High School during their first open forum moderated by the League of Women’s Voters. “I’ll attend and am looking forward to it,” said Thalheimer, president and co-founder of San Diego Flight Training International (SDFTI). Lightner and Thalheimer ran against Marshall Merrifield June 3: the two highest vote getters, Lightner and Thalheimer will face off in the Nov. 4 election. The winner will fill the seat left by termed-out San Diego City Council President Scott Peters. Both candidates addressed some issues they said were currently plaguing the area. Community leader Lightner pointed to her history with La Jolla’s community groups as she focused on an issue that ran through the La Jolla Community Planning Association and Bird Rock Community Council: Bird Rock Station, a project opponents said will increase height limits to three stories and destroy the neighborhood’s character. “I think the one that’s in the forefront right now is Bird Rock Station and that’s going to City Council next week,” Lightner said. Lightner said she stands behind a portion of the community speaking out against the project and that the city’s planning commission did not correctly authorize the project when they voted to allow the project to proceed. “Largely because the commission didn’t make any determination for what the public benefit was,” Lightner said. Although the city could allow deviations such as three stories from the PDO, lightner said the commission should have stated what the public would gain. “I may have missed it, but the closest it would have been what was in the staff report which said that ‘it was a nice looking building,’” Lightner said. Thalheimer said he would focus on community issues such as traffic and the Hillel site, along with Bird Rock’s traffic circles. Thalheimer said he also can speak with authority about the Torrey Pines Gliderport. “Aviation is a very small community and I talk with pilots,” Thalheimer said. Although Thalheimer co-owns a flight-training school and talks with pilots in the community, he said he wants to find a way to compromise with both the pilots at the Torrey Pines Gliderport and the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, a group of four area research science centers building a center to study stem cells. “We need to find a way to have both,” Thalheimer said. Thalheimer said he’s looking forward to the public’s questions and is waiting to hear issues that arise during the debate. Candidates will answer the public’s questions in one-minute increments during the debate. The Nov. 4 vote will decide the race’s winner for the San Diego City Council District 1 seat, which includes La Jolla and Bird Rock, Carmel Valley, Del Mar Heights, Rancho Penasquitos, Rose Canyon, University City, UCSD, Torrey Pines, Torrey Hills, Sorrento Valley, Sorrento Hills, Lower San Dieguito River Valley. The League of Women Voters will moderate and ask both candidates questions provided by the public during the 90-minute debate, which is sponsored by the University City Community Association. The debate begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15 at University City High School, 6949 Genesee Ave. 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 websites. For more information about Phil Thalheimer, go to www.philforcouncil.com. For information about Sherri Lightner, go to www.sherrilightner.org.