Did you know Coronado is a council-manager form of government, not a strong-mayor form of government?
What does that mean, you ask?
It means that the citizens of Coronado elect a four-person council and a mayor, all at-large. It is this political body that then hires a city manager to organize, run and manage the day-to-day affairs of the city bureaucracy.
Blair King, Coronado’s city manager, is effectively our CEO. The city council members are his board of directors. Mayor Tanaka is the chairman. This board, or council, sets the vision for the city.
Specifically, this means that the City Council proposes, develops and mandates policies, ordinances and long-range plans for Coronado’s government. It is the city manager’s role to implement all of this.
Okay, so most likely you already know all this.
Here’s a better question: What sets the mayor apart from the council?
In a council-manager form of government this position is not that powerful. Sorry Mayor Tanaka, sorry Councilwoman Denny.
The mayor’s role in Coronado for all intents and purposes is a ceremonial one. He doesn’t set the meeting agenda, he doesn’t administer the parks and recreation department. The city manager does.
He does run the meetings, however. He can control the tempo and decorum of council meetings. And, that’s important. The mayor, symbolically, is our leader. When the mayor is cutting ribbons at store openings, you want to be proud that person is standing there.
But, in the end, the Mayor has one vote, just like the council members.
With these facts in mind, why does council member Denny want to unseat Mayor Tanaka?
Did he toss the city into a pool of red ink? Nope.
And, even if he did, Denny’s ability to change the city’s path is only as strong as her ability to persuade the rest of the council to come along with her program.
Whatever one's gripes are with Mayor Tanaka, it takes a majority of council members to make a decision, to direct the city manager to implement a new policy.
Tanaka is not a strong mayor because Coronado does not have that form of government, but he is a level-headed one. He sets a smooth tone that allows his council colleagues to deliberate fairly and substantively.
Over the last few years, Tanaka and most of the council members have worked together to set the course for the next phase of our city. He is part of a consensus, a coalition of council members who are working as a team to move Coronado ahead.
If one doesn’t like where the council is taking the city, work to throw the whole lot out or make change from within, but switching one’s seat from a council member to a mayor is ineffective and insincere.
Strong leadership and vision can be rooted in a council seat.
Council member Denny can do this. She could build coalitions with her council colleagues to achieve the planks on her political platform. She has a solid following of concerned citizens who want to see her goals implemented.
However, without striking working relationships with her council colleagues these objectives will never see the light of day. She is just one vote of five.
Do you see my point? She isn’t leading. She is an outlier.
To be mayor, you must take the reins. You must compromise when necessary. You must be able to work with your fellow elected leaders.
The mayor’s seat in Coronado is a symbol. It is a symbol of leadership.
Mayor Tanaka spent years as a council member earning our respect and that of his colleagues before he was elected mayor.
Let’s illustrate our support for him by voting him in to another four years as our mayor. It would be a strong and symbolic vote.
First, if Benzian actually lives in Coronado, I'd be surprised. Last I heard, he lives in San Diego. He has a history with the incumbent as noted in another comment since he's a graduate of Coronado High School. Giving Benzian the title of "Political Observer" is misleading. He's not an impartial observer. He's a designated partisan for Tanaka because Tanaka can't get elected on his own record. Growing up here and attacking Barbara is their only platform. It's very sad that Tanaka has been on council for 10 years and can't point to concrete examples of his actions to benefit our residents. Barbara, who has been on council for 3 years, has run circles around Tanaka and has been the hardest working advocate for residents and small business owners on Council.
Barbara's successful record in getting things done for residents is known all over our island. People tell me, "If you want anything done, go talk to Barbara Denny." Barbara listens, understands and is resourceful. Do you want more bike racks on the beach, a cross walk at C and First, to stop the wasteful Tunnel spending, reduce the number of extreme illegal vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods, stop the sale of alcohol at Starbucks? On these items and more, Barbara Denny got results for us.
Tanaka ran for Mayor in 2008 while sitting in the same council seat that Barbara now holds. Barbara is only doing what Tanaka did in 2008. When he vacated his council seat, Barbara ran for it and won it. Then she was re-elected to her seat in 2010. Barbara has no secret agendas. Benzian knows this, which is what makes his article all the more sad. When Benzian wanted to be Coronado Port Commissioner, only one member of council supported him -- Barbara Denny. Why is Benzian so desperate that he's trying to curry favor with the current mayor who didn't think enough of Benzian to vote to name him Port Commissioner? I'm looking forward to voting for Barbara on November 6th and I encourage you to do the same.
You have shown us a great example of the type of mentality that has been bringing Coronado down. It is not shared by the rest of us. We are ready for a change.
But to the point. I like a level headed facilitator as my mayor. Someone who doesn't think he has all the answers because that is not his job. His job is to listen to and encourage participation from the residents of Coronado. He is an historian and respects and knows Coronado's unique history and ties that in to our city's current socioeconomic environment. As a resident of Coronado for 38 years, it is my opinion that has been well suited as our Mayor and I look forward to another term.
Check out the city website at www.coronado.ca.us council meeting of August 21, 2012, Agenda item # 5K - "Approve mitigation measures to prevent golf balls from entering Coronado tennis center grounds and courts": http://coronado.12milesout.com/PublicMeetings/MeetingVideo?ID=924ebfbb-79cf-4f78-a390-a2b0942680cb Watch as Mr. Tanaka, the Logistics expert wastes the council’s time with some zany ideas. (cont'd)
We can't afford another four years of this. We have real financial issues that require a real leader, not a weak “facilitator” who doesn't understand our finances. Over the course of this election season, Tanaka has been taking credit for what he calls a "surplus" in the operating budget ending June 2012. He doesn't comprehend that we are underfunding our pension at only about 60% plus we'll likely be in the hole for more than $60 million of "loan transfers" that HE HIMSELF voted for from our general fund tax dollars to the former CDA (our redevelopment agency). That adds up to hundreds of millions of dollars that we are in the red.
Time for a change. I'm voting for Barbara for mayor and I urge you to join me. Barbara is a real leader who listens to residents and local business owners. Barbara has proven that, unlike the current mayor, she protects our tax dollars instead of wasting them.
Barbara works well with everyone, even the four other council members who have treated her very poorly since their defeat over the Coronado Tunnel project. Barbara led our strong grass roots group to Stop Tunnel Spending and Kiss the Tunnel Goodbye. Nearly 70% of the voters shut down the wasteful Coronado Tunnel project in June 2010 through their NO vote on Prop H. It was the best thing to happen for Coronado taxpayers who didn't want to pay parcel taxes and $10 bridge tolls (as proposed by Mr Tanaka) to pay for a tunnel that the no one would drive in for safety reasons. Those other current and former council members listed at Tanaka supporters were all Tunnel supporters. They did not appreciate Barbara's effort to end their 10-year pet project by letting voters decide.
-Certified Coronado as a National Weather Service Tsunami Ready & Storm Ready city -Removed 2 lobbying firms from city payroll -Stopped abusive vacation rentals in three Coronado neighborhoods by enforcing the city code proactively -Stopped sale of alcohol at Starbucks -Saved an historic home from demolition by enforcing the city code proactively -Passed unanimous resolution to support removal of South Bay power plant -Passed unanimous resolution to support Cays plan for no development on Grand Caribe Isle. Don't believe everything you hear about Barbara. Ask for the evidence. People that are trying to hang on to power and continue to get special treatment from our city don't want Barbara to be mayor. She's honest, fair and not beholden to special interests. The negative smear campaign against Barbara intentionally distorts the facts.
On another note, there was an interesting article in the Eagle on Wednesday that showed that of the $11,825 that was raised for Barbara's campaign, $10,000 came from Barbara her self. She had a total of 17 donors. To me, that shows very little real support from our Community. On the other hand, Mayor Tanaka put $100 into his Campaign, raising a total of $17,895 with a total of 99 donors. An interesting comparison to contemplate.
He and others go on about these absurd claims in the Editorial section of this weeks Eagle. My Biggest fear is that she is somewhat delusional and actually believes (for one example) that she did bring consensus to the council. I believe that this type of character makes the most dangerous kind of leader.
Regardless of how Barbara chooses to fund her campaign, I know her votes aren't for sale. If you are relying on Eagle editorials and Jerry Mitchell for facts, then you are relying on biased information. The Eagle has been biased against Barbara ever since her victory in leading the end of the waste of our tax dollars on the Tunnel project when nearly 70% of the voters shut down that boondoggle in 2010 by voting NO on Proposition H. In case you are unaware, their reporter who repeatedly attacks Barbara diminished his credibility in our town. Ask him directly about his experience and you'll understand why. You may remember that he wrote that he was a part of the pro-Tunnel minority in one of his earlier attacks on Barbara. That pro-Tunnel minority includes the current mayor and the current and former politicians who Tanaka lists as his "endorsers." You also may remember that Barbara ran against Jerry Mitchell in 2009 and beat him to win her council seat. It seems he is still very cranky about it and he once returned Barbara's "Hello" at a candidate forum with a loud obscenity to Barbara that was heard by members of the public.
As proof, I am going to show you some data about where the candidates stand in relation to each other. Below is an e-mail I received from Dr Allen Jost, a Coronado resident, statistician and a fellow Barbara Denny supporter, among other things. He’s allowed me to post this. Lets see who the real outliers are: "Jost: Today, November 2, 2012, I completed a preliminary statistical review of the Coronado CAN Voter's Guide based on Likert Scale technology. (I have a Ph. D. in Statistics.) "Not surprisingly, the current mayor’s responses disagree with Councilwoman Barbara Denny, Coronado Mayoral Candidate, more than any other candidate. His responses agree with council member candidate Woiwode’s the most. Below is a table that reflects the average absolute response difference to all 56 CAN Questions between the current mayor and all the other candidates, as an example of the differences between responses. The number “1” in the table, for example, means that the mayor, on average, is “one response” away from the other candidate for all 56 questions. So, if the average response for one candidate to all questions is “No Opinion”, then “one response away”, on average, from that is either “agree” or “disagree”. For example, the Table shows that Mayor Tanaka is, on average, 1.88 responses away from Mayoral Candidate Barbara Denny.
Denny 1.88 Keith 1.59 McPherson 1.45 Bailey 1.21 Roesch 1.14 Woiwode 0.84 Tanaka 0.0” "Mayoral Candidate Barbara Denny has the most variability in her answers and council member candidate Roesch has the least variability. High variability means, in general, responses that reflect opinions that span the entire range from "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree" while low variability means that the opinions are generally close to only one response, such as "No Opinion" or "Agree" or "Disagree", and there are generally few opinions at the extremes, such as "Strongly Agree" or "Strongly Disagree". "All the candidates overall "average responses" tend to be slightly toward “agree” (agree with the question) relative to the CAN statements except Woiwode, whose average response tends, in general, to be slightly toward “disagree” to the question. The CAN statements addressed issues of importance to residents."
I'm voting for Barbara for Mayor and I urge you to do so, too. ~ Allen Jost, Ph.D." So there you have it - Mr Tanaka and Ms Denny have very different opinions about Coronado. And the council candidates, except Mr Woiwode from the current council are closer in their opinions to Barbara than to Casey. No one is delusional. Like Dr Jost, I too am making the smart choice for Mayor of Coronado - Barbara Denny. I encourage you to vote for Barbara on Nov. 6.