Candidate for
Mayor; City of Coronado

I'm running for Mayor because Coronado needs real leadership, a consensus builder, taxpayer advocate, problem solver and diplomat who works full time to guide our island to be the absolute best. Unfortunately, Coronado doesn't have any of these qualities in the current mayor.

Furthermore, we have complex financial issues that require a Mayor who comprehends our city finances as I do.

The State shut off the spigot of tax increment financing (TIF) in February. So we are forced to ask the California Finance Department every six months until at least 2026 for additional property tax revenue to repay our $375 million of redevelopment debt on bonds and projects. Experts in redevelopment law say we won't receive the funds to pay off some of this redevelopment debt. One example of taxpayer dollars that we'll likely never recoup is the $60 million in principal and interest that the City loaned piecemeal over several years from our general fund to our now-defunct redevelopment agency.

Also, we must begin to maintain the Cays waterways under our court-ordered responsibility. And to avoid the financial distress of other towns, we must start to fund our unfunded pension liability.

The fact is we now receive less than half of the property tax revenue that we used to receive when we were a viable redevelopment agency. This is a major setback to our finances. Yet we shouldn't panic because our property tax base is strong. Instead, we should cut expenses and live within our means.

The current mayor's plan is to raise taxes. He initiated, and is a co-proponent of, the 2% hotel tax hike proposition that will appear on your November ballot. Sadly, there's no guarantee that the revenue raised will be spent in our town on our community priorities. According to our city attorney, this hotel tax revenue will go into the general fund undesignated.

I worked hard to stop the wasteful Tunnel boondoggle which we defeated thanks to a strong grass roots coalition in June 2010. Meanwhile, my opponent sought new parcel taxes to pay for the project.

These past actions from Coronado's leadership are what motivated me to run for Mayor.

We must end the wasteful practices and prevent another attempt to raise taxes.

In reality I have voted along with the majority on the lion's share of our council agenda items. However, here are some of the areas where I voted NO over the years: (1) continue spending on the billion dollar Coronado Tunnel boondoggle, (2) remove six bus stops on Orange Avenue, (3) sell alcohol at Starbucks, (4) pour concrete parking space ON our beach, (5) destroy our natural, protected beach dunes by allowing private events ON them, (6) decrease council oversight of contracts between our city manager and outside contractors, (7) destroy our village atmosphere by "opening up" our Orange Avenue Corridor Specific Plan (OACSP) to meddle with it, (8) kill our annual golf passes, (9) double our community pool user fees, (10) demolish the irrefutably historic home on F Avenue and increase neighborhood density by building a gargantuan house in its place, (11) advance the Shores Beach Toilets project to be built on an active earthquake fault in a coastal flood zone ON our beach near Avenida del Sol, (12) harm existing local businesses by allowing two more Segway operators and another Federal Express into our town, (13) illegally budget for and spend our toll revenue settlement funds on various projects that don't directly reduce the negative effects of increased traffic upon our neighbors in the Third & Fourth Street Corridor, (14) refuse to budget for the construction phase of the Senior Center renovation.

Voters have a clear choice on Election Day. My opponent voted YES on every agenda item in the above fourteen areas. Wouldn't it be refreshing to have a Mayor who understands our community and votes in your best interests instead of against you? Wouldn't it be beneficial to have a Mayor with the skill set to build consensus on council so that a council majority votes in your best interests, too? That's why I want to be your Mayor. And that's why I respectfully ask for your vote on November 6.

Kindly go to http://www.barbara4mayor.com for my record of accomplishments as your Coronado Councilwoman.