Red Words

Let's start with the basics. Friday's candidate event was a forum, not a debate. The seven candidates each had a short time to introduce themselves and summarize their ideas to the audience. After each council hopeful spoke, a few members of the audience had a chance to ask questions. It was a very cordial evening. Candidates generally did not challenge each others' positions nor remind each other that they were not Jack Kennedy. Nobody was accused of forgetting Poland.

I wasn't surprised by the overall politeness of Friday's event because I have yet to see this campaign devolve into mudslinging. Then again, I don't live in Redlands so I don't receive candidates' mailers, so maybe there's some sniping going on that I have yet to see. However, given the fact that Redlands' biggest issue is the budget, most candidates are trying to paint themselves as the most capable financial minds in the race rather than latch on to a hot-button issue.

So with all the excitement that goes along with fiscal policy, here are some summaries of each candidates' remarks:

Pete AguilarAguilar was appointed to the council last year and this is his first shot at being elected in his own right. He contended that the city is on better financial footing than when he joined the council - the city adopted balanced budget in June after five straight years of allowing spending to exceed anticipated revenues.

He also observed that City Hall does not have funds available to repave Redlands' cracked and pothole-filled roads and said he wants the city to develop long-term economic development and financial plans.

Aguilar appeared to stumble during the question and answer period. An audience member noted his objection to the council's decision to eliminate the public's access to a portion of New York Street, which tech firm ESRI, one of the East Valley's biggest businesses, wanted to make private. The council first granted ESRI's wish before Aguilar had a seat on the dais, but in May of this year Aguilar voted to let ESRI have an additional stretch of New York Street.

Rather than defend his vote by explaining why he supported ESRI"s request, Aguilar simply replied that he knew of only one letter from the public opposing the idea. The questioner then revealed that he authored the letter Aguilar referred to.

Aguilar's words on the matter were: "I don't make a decision until I hear from the public." He did not say how many letters or phone calls would have caused him to change his vote on New York Street. For what it's worth three other council members also voted to let ESRI have the asphalt and Mayor Jon Harrison left the room during the May vote because he works for ESRI.

Jerry Bean
Bean's basic campaign theme is that Redlands needs a business-minded council.

"It's going to be very important to have people on the council who know how to read financial statements. Who know what a balance sheet is," he said.

Bean is not convinced the city's financial situation is getting better. He expressed doubt that Redlands will wind up in the black at the end of the current fiscal year and said he worries about a potential economic slowdown hindering future revenue growth.

Although Bean noted his displeasure that City Hall has not allocated substantial monies for civic beautification efforts such as the maintenence of street medians (any chance that country club members want to live in a well-groomed city?) he advertised himself more as a candidate who will seek to control costs, rather than find projects to spend money on.

"The single most important question you should ask is: 'Who is most qualified to deal with this horrible deficit situation that is caused by five year's of overspending?'" he said.

Gilberto Gil

Gil is the second incumbent in the race and was elected to the council in 2003. In a recent interview, Gil told me he supported earlier budgets because he didn't think Redlanders would accept cuts to city services. I don't recall him addressing the budget issue at all during Friday's forum.

Instead, Gil chose to showcase his Redlands youth as "that brown-eyed child that sat at Lugonia Elementary School and listened to the people that said you can be anyone you want in the world."

Gil grew up to be a California parole oficer and spent the bulk of his time relating a story about his job. He said that on the afternoon before the forum, he was looking for a parolee in San Bernardino when he got word that other parolees were burglarizing homes in the area of Barton Road and Mountain View Avenue. He was pleased to see Redlands police were already on the scene when he arrived at the neighborhood.

"Those guys are off to jail," Gil said.

In essence, Gil's main effort on Friday was to position himself as the public safety candidate in this year's race. He wrapped up by touting the fact that the city's police and fire unions have endorsed his candidacy.

Henry Nickel

Nickel promoted his support for spending controls during the forum and repeated a point he has made before - that he disliked officials' consideration of a sales tax hike this summer rather than first try to make city operations more efficient. (The council voted 3-2 against putting the tax on the ballot.) Nickel also indicated that he wants Metrolink to have a stop in Redlands and asserted that the city needs to support business growth in downtown Redlands.

"I believe our downtown is the economic future of our city," he said.

Nickel, who is running a low-budget campaign, also criticized the infusion of money into local campaigns. He said his campaign was an effort to find out if a candidate could win a race by aggressively knocking on doors rather than spending large amounts of cash.

He also advocated for more interaction with other cities on crime prevention. He said the Inland Empire is a single, contiguous metropolitan area and cities need to cooperate to fight crooks.

"We need to form alliances with surrounding jurisdictions," he said.

Jeff Sceranka
Sceranka is another business-focused candidate. He said Redlands' lack of an Economic Development Department is a major weakness and argued that the city needs more strategic planning for officials to plot Redlands' economic future.

In Sceranka's view, there are only a few years left to decide what kinds of developments will be most beneficial for the city.

"We are in a competition. Within the next five to 10 years this community is going to be built out," he said.

Sceranka also opined that City Hall should try to prevent controversies over developments before its time for the City Council to take a vote on a proposal. He said it "doesn't take a rocket scientist" to know which proposals will raise residents' objections and that the city needs to sponsor community meetings between developers and the public when potentially controversial projects are in the works.

Eddie Tejeda

Tejeda highlighted his interest in fostering greater community participation in the council's decisions. Tejeda is a member of the Northside Visioning Committee and offered that a redevelopment proposal for north Redlands that has gained that group's support shows the need for greater public involvement. A previous redevelopment proposal died when northside residents became alarmed at the prospect officials taking property through eminent domain proceesings.

Although Tejeda said he has a duty to represent the northsiders who supported him in his prior City Council campaign, he also touched on an issue of interest to the southern part of the city. He said he wants to keep the canyon area green and values the combination of open space and economic potentials of eco-tourism over greater development around the city's southern slopes.

"I want to make sure our natural resources are preserved," he said.

Nancy Ruth White

White zeroed in on her vision of Redlands as a unique city of boutique stores and open spaces.

"I don't want Redlands to be a Pomona, a Moreno Valley or a Garden Grove," she said. "I want to be a Redlands of State Street and safe streets."

White said the council needs to balance Redlands' budget without "service cuts or accounting gimmicks." She suggested that the city reject the hiring of out-of-town consultants as a way to cut costs.

She also noted her agreement with a Redlands Daily Facts editorial that it was "time for a change" on the council."

White probably didn't agree with the entire editorial, since the Facts (The Sun's sister paper) gave two other challengers its support.

(The Sun printed the same editorial. For those who missed it, the endorsements went to Bean and Sceranka. I didn't participate in the endorsement process. Also, I want to throw in the disclosure that Bean is a former publisher of The Sun.)