La Jollan Sherri Lightner said she is running for the First District Council seat being vacated by termed-out incumbent Scott Peters out of a sense of public committment and a deep-rooted conviction that political power should rest with the people - but doesn't in San Diego.
Politics, "was not in my career plan," said Lightner, a mainstay on the La Jolla community planning scene for the past decade. An "increasing level of frustration" with the public governmental process in which the public "isn't very well received," Lightner said compelled her to run for office.
"Neighborhoods know what they want," she added, "and they should be considered in what we're doing at City Hall. I firmly believe that the public really holds the power. It's just that they're not aware of what's going on. They should be heard and their opinions advocated."
Lightner characterizes herself as a grass-roots, shoe-leather candidate. "I'm a decent person," she said. "I'm not going for political advancement. I just want to help the community. I grew up in San Diego. I love San Diego. I'd love to see San Diego go back to where it was, but (still) move forward.
"One of the things we don't talk about in San Diego these days is we have to have a future. We need to plan for the future, and we need to do whatever it takes to get a future."
Concerning her qualifications to be one of the eight city council representatives, Lightner said: "I have been a community activist. I know how city hall works. I have an appreciation of the neighborhoods and how they should be included, especially in the budget process. What does the budget mean for my neighbor? Bring it down to that."
Lightner was a licensed mechanical engineer who worked for 23 years in local private industry including stints at General Atomics, Rohr Industries and Goodrich. She and her husband, Bruce, run a computer hardware/software consulting business.
Lightner said she's an advocate of controlled growth. Growth, she added, needs to be controlled for a number of reasons. "We need to be very careful we don't exceed our water supply. We need to do a better job of providing for transportation, maybe even before development," she said.
Lightner said the city has a mechanism in place to control growth: community plans. "That's the community's vision of what they want," she pointed out. "That and the municipal codes. If you followed those, you'd be a lot further ahead than we are right now."
Regarding La Jolla issues, Lightner noted she's been in the forefront of opposition to paid on-street parking. "I don't support paid on-street parking and I've been involved in that effort since 2002," she said. "It doesn't make sense. Enforcement can do what they're claiming paid on-street parking will do."
Lightner also doesn't like the fact that Promote La Jolla, the community's Business Improvement District, has three of the nine members on La Jolla's parking advisory board. The way that board has been set up, Lightner said, makes it subservient to Promote La Jolla and its interests, rather than being truly representative of the community and its diverse interests. "The advisory board may in fact actually report to Promote La Jolla," Lightner said. "The relationship between the parking district board and Promote La Jolla is redefined in the contract every year."
Lightner believes it would be more productive to try to get the city to share some of the revenue it derives from time-limit enforcement of existing parking in La Jolla, rather than impose a pay-and-display paid-parking solution on the community."
Lightner is also an advocate of shared use by humans and harbor seals at La Jolla's Children's Pool. "The city is under a court order to dredge (sand)," she said. "The (pool's) trust (status) was broken because of habitation (by seals)."
Plans for building a new lifeguard tower at La Jolla Shores have gone through the public review process, noted Lightner, and should be moved forward. "The lifeguard tower at the Shores went through the community process for two years," she said. "There was a delay in funding for it. The (public) process has been exhausted."
Asked what La Jolla needs most right now, Lightner said: "I would like to see a new environmental impact report done for our community plan. There should be a reconsideration of increases in the number of dwelling units (allowed) and the mitigation needed to accomplish that."
What doesn't La Jolla need right now? "The unabated pressure to put in paid on-street parking," answered Lightner.
Lightner is also receptive to the notion that it's worthwhile to explore the possibility of La Jolla breaking away from San Diego and becoming its own city. "It would be good to further consider it," she said.
Lightner concluded public service is her intent and hopes to be afforded the opportunity to serve.
"It would be my privilege to be responsible for representing the communities of District 1 on the City Council," she said.
Each week the La Jolla Light will cover candidates to get their views to help you decide during the upcoming election.
ELECTION COVERAGE Each week the La Jolla Light will cover candidates to get their views to help you decide during the upcoming election.
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