The seven City Council candidates gathered for another cordial forum Thursday night in the old council chambers at Safety Hall. As I wrote in an article that's scheduled to print in Saturday's edition of The Sun, the last question of the night was both the easiest to answer and the one that summarized the 2007 campaign:
Here's the question: "In view of five years of failed fiscal management, does any incumbent deserve another chance?"
No surprises in the responses. The two incumbents, Pete Aguilar and Gilberto Gil, said they should get another four years. The five challengers - newspaper executive Jerry Bean, rail analyst Henry Nickel, finance company president Jeff Sceranka, college student Eddie Tejeda and retired teacher Nancy Ruth White - replied that it was time for new people to be elected.
For anyone to answer otherwise would have made as much sense as a candidate telling voters than his or her opponent could do a better job.
Sceranka, used the final question as a chance to make an appeal to voters that the current council has failed to protect city monies.
"We should never have been in this mess in the first place," he said.
Sceranka's comment was possibly the closest that anyone came to sounding a harsh remark at Thursday's forum, although Bean did take a swipe at Gil in response to the same question. With only weeks to go before the Nov. 6 election, Redlands candidates have so far managed to avoid the rhetorical bomb throwing that so often winds up as fodder for one of The Sun's other blogs.
As has been written in many newspaper articles, Redlands went five straight years without a balanced budget until a new spending plan was adopted in July. The city faces a $3.2-million budget shortfall next year if City Hall ends the current hiring freeze and fulfills its end of existing employment contracts.
Budget problems mean that the city has closed a community police station on the east side, sidewalks are being repaired with asphalt (which isn't considered pretty in an aesthetically-conscious town like Redlands) and monies available for street repairs continue to lag behind what's needed, although the council and Martinez did increase the amount of money dedicated to road maintenance in this year's budget. The council has also passed a new law that prohibits past spending practices outside of emergency situations.
Things could have been worse but the city got an unexpected boon in April when officials learned that Southern California Edison's franchise payments to the city increased by about $2 million to pay the city for the right to pump natural gas to the Mountainview Power Plant. The millions will be an ongoing revenue stream for the city.
In his closing remarks, Gil - who voted in favor of previous budgets - sought to deflect the notion that the last four years have been a bad time for Redlands, which he touted as one of the most desirable places to live in the Inland Empire.
"The last four years have been good years in Redlands ... it's a destination city," he said.
Basically, the race boils down to whether voters think Gil and Aguilar (who was appointed to the council in April 2006) are able to help steer the city to a better financial road or if it's time to give someone else a shot.
That summary out of the way, here are some candidate-by-candidate observations from Thursday's event, in reverse alphabetical order this time.
Nancy Ruth White
White is the only candidate who I recall rhyming during the forum. Thursday, she said she was envisioned a Redlands of "safe streets and State Street" and declared "I want to make Redlands an emerald jewel, not a developers' tool."
White's couplets illustrate her priorities. Although all seven candidates speak in favor of economic development, White - with the possible exception of college student Eddie Tejeda - is the most focused on the idea of Redlands as a place for mom-and-pop stores and environmental conservation.
Eddie Tejeda
At Thursday's forum, Tejeda repeated his interest in preserving the city's canyon area as a possible draw for eco-tourists. He also expressed particular concern, as did Bean and Nickel, with the costs of maintaining competitive -yet costly - pension plans for public employees.
"They are competitive (with other cities' compensation packages) but they are something that we, realistically speaking, cannot afford," Tejeda said.
In response to an earlier question regarding public employee unions, Tejeda remarked that he thinks its possible to negotiate contracts that are favorable to both employees and the public treasury.
Jeff Sceranka
Sceranka's focus throughout the campaign has been business development. During the forum, he posited revenue growth (i.e. more companies generating sales tax) as the way to solve the city's budget problems, including how to pay for expensive Police and Fire payrolls.
He also advocated talks to encourage "Doughnut Hole" property owners to agree to being annexed by the city. The Doughnut Hole is the county area that includes Citrus Plaza, but commercial development of the area was delayed by years of battling between developers and slow-growth forces, notably former Mayor Bill Cunningham. Redlands receives 90 percent of sales taxes generated in the Doughnut Hole but San Bernardino County gets property taxes and developers' fees. Sceranka wants those revenues and is optimistic that the city and property owners can make peace.
Henry Nickel
Nickel, who works for the Riverside County Transportation Commission, advocates rail travel (he wants Metrolink trains to come to Redlands) and tends to look at problems from a regional perspective. During Thursday's discussion of retirement benefits, Nickel offered that city's are competing against each other to offer expensive pension packages in order to retain and attract highly-skilled police and firefighters. He said that if this dynamic was occurring the private sector, companies would merge rather than race against each other in this way. Nickel characterized the Inland Empire as a metropolitan region and predicted that the area will one day have a metropolitan police and fire departments that take care of multiple cities.
Nickel is also focused on downtown, and suggested that Pasadena and Claremont are examples that could guide planners to ideas for a more vibrant central Redlands.
Gilberto Gil
Questions at Thursday's forum were submitted on slips of paper from the audience. Gil was the only candidate to face a question that directly criticized his record in office. The questioner asked Gil why he was in the race when he appeared reluctant to seek reelection earlier in the year and has missed multiple council meetings.
Gil elicited more than a few chuckles when he said "I don't quite understand that question," but recovered in time to assert his interest in winning another four years.
"For those who think Gil is done, Gil can't run, Gil is here," he said.
Gil has not focused on the budget to the degree that other candidates have. A parole officer, Gil's campaign is more reliant upon his claiming of the public safety issue.
"I'm a firm believer in safe streets, public safety. I think Redlands has the safest streets in the county of San Bernardino," he said.
Jerry Bean
Bean, like Sceranka, is running a campaign that is based on cultivating a business-savvy reputation. The two candidates differ in that Bean spends more time talking about reducing costs than increasing revenue. He has said that the city can't afford to wait for new businesses to open.
"The city's problem isn't revenue it's spending," Bean said. "It's long-term. It (economic development) is not going to help in the next three years."
Bean also said it's important to look for ways to make the Police and Fire departments (expensive in every city) more efficient. (The council has already approved audits of these departments.) Bean also noted his concern over retirement programs that make it possible for public safety employees to retire in their 50s.
"There's no question that retirement packages are richer than they are in the private sector, but it's very common in cities," he said, continuing that the loss of officers and firefighters who retire shortly after their fiftieth birthdays "robs the city of the very best police and firemen that we have."
Pete Aguilar
Aguilar, who was appointed to the council in April 2006, enjoys the advantage of incumbency but also portrayed himself as new enough to the council to be represent a fresh perspective on city issues. Aguilar also asserted that recent achievements, such as a balanced budget for Fiscal 2007-08, show the city is on course for improvements.
During the forum, Aguilar represented another voice calling for pro-business policies. He touted the city's hiring of a full-time redevelopment and economic development director as something that is set to happen around December and advocated for a closer working relationship with the city's businesses. He said City Hall should rely on the city's top sales tax-generating companies for advice on economic issues.
"We need to listen to those folks," he said.