A mayoral forum was recently held by the Sierra Club and The League of Conservation Voters to address environmental issues. A few moments stood out to those watching from Assemblyman Todd Gloria’s statement on retrofitting buildings to Councilwoman Barbara Bry’s stance on scooters in San Diego.
The moderator, Matt Strabone, asked the candidates what their stances would be on retrofitting any new buildings to have zero emissions. Assemblyman Gloria agreed with this proposition and added that on top of the requirements of the plan, he would have any preexisting buildings be retrofitted if they are sold.
Gloria commented, “New construction, that’s a far easier conversation, but I was willing to have a different conversation… when I proposed the draft climate action plan, we talked about energy retrofits in existing buildings. That wasn’t necessarily well received in every corner, but I think this group of voters here tonight are looking for a true environmental champion.”
The assemblyman helped found an early draft of the Climate Action Plan while he served as interim mayor. This plan was later adopted by the City Council and when Kevin Faulconer became mayor, a final plan was proposed.
When Councilwoman Bry had her closing statement, she addressed her obsession with scooters. She stated, “when I saw the scooter industry descend on San Diego, I look at the fast money behind these scooters and I realized that their success was dependent upon getting state legislation to exempt them from requirements to wear a helmet and to prohibit cities from having any local control over helmet usage.”
Bry’s statement seemed vague and there was no line about what she really wants to say. While it’s not clear, it can be inferred that she stands against scooters and views them as an unsafe mode of transportation.
One more moment from the debate that stood out was Gloria’s answer when asked what he would want to do to deal with the sewage flow issue from the Tijuana River.
Gloria responded, “Believe me, if I get a chance to sit down with President Trump, we’re not just going to have happy talk. We’re going to have a conversation about the Tijuana River Valley, and then we’re going to get to the kids in cages and some of the other bullshit that he’s been pushing on this community.”
While Gloria hopes to benefit politically from randomly dragging President Trump into unrelated issues, this does nothing to address the actual environmental problems that San Diego is facing.
A question must be asked on what the candidates know about the environmental issues happening in San Diego, since there was very little focus on what needs to be done to solve them. Instead, Gloria and Bry would rather focus on transit, the safety of scooters, and trashing on President Trump.
