1. What is your view of how elected leaders won approval of first-ever trash collection fees on more than 200,000 single-family homeowners?
The trash fee is emblematic of the frustrations our community experiences with local government. My neighbors expect high-quality city services, from roads to our first responders, and they understand that this costs money. Trust is broken because the city wasn’t honest about the fee rate. People don’t see the promised enhanced results. Our streets still need paving, our streetlights are still out, and our budget isn’t staffing necessary positions that provide critical community services. Due diligence review, oversight and transparency cannot be delegated. The taxpayers deserve better results, and I’ll make sure they get them.
2. What is your view of the imposition of parking fees at Balboa Park and do you think the mayor and council did enough to control costs before taking this step?
Balboa Park is a place where every San Diegan has special memories and where families can enjoy low-cost fun. It is unfair to charge any fee to San Diegans before the city looks at how it spends money, handles contracts and manages land leases. The city’s failure to look inward, along with a lack of community input, shows how we ended up in this situation. Instead of quick fixes, we need to address the root cause of the problem to control costs and clearly explain the plan to impacted San Diegans.
3. Voters gave landslide approval in 2006 to a “managed competition” process in which some city services can be outsourced and strongly supported pension reforms for most city workers in 2012, but elected leaders have pursued neither policy in recent years. Would you?
City workers have always delivered strong, reliable service to the people of San Diego. “Managed competition” (privatization) didn’t deliver the savings or efficiency it promised. What it did do was take up a lot of time and resources from city staff. The real problem isn’t our hardworking employees, it’s poor budgeting decisions and management mistakes that hurt efficiency.
A new hire’s pension in 2026 is very different from one in 2005. Proposition B in 2012 ended up being a major pension problem for the city, both financially and in keeping employees happy and staying on the job. Pensions are predictable costs the city can plan for. Workers pay into them, and the city doesn’t have to pay Social Security, which saves money every year compared to private businesses. The city needs to make sure it pays what it owes.
As your next city councilmember for District 2, I will work with my colleagues to make sure city services are run efficiently by city workers and that we pay our bills on time.
4. What is the single issue you feel deserves more attention?
As a working mom, I know how hard it is for my family and my neighbors to keep up with growing costs for everyday necessities such as utility bills, trash and parking fees, insurance and rent. Throughout this campaign, I have heard from my neighbors about the trust they have lost in our local government, the need for infrastructure repair and concerns about public safety.
San Diegans must be treated like our basic needs matter. It is the everyday San Diegans that make this America’s Finest City. It matters that our streets need to be paved, that our streetlights are still out, and that the city isn’t staffing the necessary positions that provide critical community services.
As the next city councilmember I will do the work. First, I will work to rebuild our community’s trust in local government by auditing our city budget, meeting with local stakeholders and putting a stop to passing policies in City Hall that haven’t been properly vetted by the neighborhoods they are impacting. Next, I will work alongside our county and state partners to ensure execution of a one-year, five-year and 10-year roadmap that will deliver world-class streets service and infrastructure to our communities. Finally, I will make sure that our fire and police departments are fully staffed to ensure fire preparedness and address emergency response times.
Go to nicoleforsandiego.com for more information about the candidate.