San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and challenger Larry Turner squared off in a debate Thursday hosted by KPBS. They sparred over issues including homelessness and housing, public safety and “money matters,” including cost of living and city finances.
The two candidates for mayor were mostly restrained in their interactions with each other, but did have a few heated moments. They also both attempted to shed more light on their plans and positions during the one-hour debate, which had reporters from KPBS, Voice of San Diego and inewsource posing questions to the candidates.
Here were five moments that stood out.
Turner’s plans for solving homelessness
Turner was asked, “what is your specific plan to create shelter for unhoused San Diegans, and how would it differ from the work that the mayor and his team are already doing?”
He responded that Gloria is using “temporary band aid approaches” and that come January, many of the shelter beds would be gone and more people would be on the street.
“We've got to get in there, we've got to stop the bleeding on those, whatever it takes, we’ve got to stop those beds from going, or else we're going to have another thousand people on the street in January,” Turner said.
He added that he would use the “cluster system” where you bring in multiple organizations, define metrics of success, “and then they all open their books, too, where that money's going, how it's being spent, and we see where that success is.”
Gloria responded that “there was no plan in that answer just a moment ago, there's the reflexive opposition that we see from many people who are afraid of change when we work on this issue, that's not what a leader does.”
Turner responded that he had more detailed plans on his website.
Gloria’s response to how homelessness has improved
Gloria was asked in regards to the homeless problem, “what can you point to that shows that it has gotten better over the last four years, not just all the steps that have been taken, but that it has improved?”
The mayor responded that monthly homeless counts show improvement.
“The monthly counts that we have in downtown San Diego that in May of 2023 showed over 2,000 homeless people on the streets of downtown San Diego. The count this month is about 800,” Gloria said.
He added that Turner has a “chaotic approach” to homelessness, saying he opposes the Supreme Court ruling that allows bans on homeless encampments, but also “wants to end our progressive enforcement model, something that he should know is not possible to do because it's the subject of a piece of legal settlement,” Gloria said. “So we can't do that unilaterally. It's surprising that he does not know that.”
Gloria’s response on whether enforcing COVID vaccines among police officers was a mistake
A question to Gloria suggested that low morale among San Diego police officers can be attributed to “your insistence that the officers get the COVID vaccine and even offering consequences if they didn't.”
Gloria was asked whether he regretted his approach.
“No, I don't. And the reason for that, when we made that policy, we had, I think, approximately 200 police officers out sick that day. We had over 100 firefighters out sick that day,” Gloria said. “My number one responsibility as mayor is to keep you and your family safe. How can you possibly do that with hundreds of police officers and firefighters unable to come to work because they were COVID positive?”
Turner was then asked whether he would consider changing benefits for police officers in the future. He said he would “consider everything” but said the city needs to hire more police officers and dispatchers.
“Yesterday, somebody tried to steal my car in Ocean Beach, of all places, right there outside of the, well, I won't mention the store,” he said. “They were leaving the car, they were trying to hotwire it, and they took off when I showed up. An hour and eight minutes I had to wait on hold before somebody picked it up. You know, it's all about not just having the number of officers, but us being able to know as an officer where we need to go and what we need to do that requires somebody on the other end of the phone.”
Differing opinions on bike lanes
Both candidates were asked how they would reduce traffic deaths.
Turner responded saying the city needs more police officers to do more traffic enforcement.
“On the bicycle fatalities, the number of vehicle versus bicycle fatalities has really gone through the roof,” he said. “And I think a big part of that is the bicycle lanes that the mayor has put in place. And I understand that's part of, you know, his idea on climate action and other things, but unfortunately, in the haste of putting those in place, they were put in unsafely.”
Turner cited a settlement the city paid “for a wrongful death of a bicyclist in one of these poorly made bicycle lanes.”
Gloria responded saying “I would do what he's saying, the opposite of.”
He added that the wrongful death settlement was for a cyclist who was riding on a street that doesn't have a bike lane.
“We have too much of our infrastructure that is only made for one thing and one thing only. That's the car,” Gloria said. “My traffic and transportation plan is about giving you choices.”
Turner accuses Gloria of traveling too much
In response to a question about how he as mayor would make transportation more affordable, Turner said “I'm not against the bike lanes. I would like to see less people driving cars.” He then said the mayor should be spending more time in the city and not traveling so much.
“Why are you in Vegas so much? Why are you in China? Why are you in Davos? Why are you in Korea? Why are you in Mexico City?” Turner said.
“You didn't go to Davos,” Turner then said.
“No. In fact, you got that wrong,” Gloria said.
“All right, he did not go to Davos,” Turner said. “He went everywhere else but Davos.”
“These are the things that you need to be present for. It's about leadership,” Turner said.
Gloria added “I did go to China to bring back some pandas to our San Diego Zoo and I think you all kind of like that.”
Both candidates closed the debate by highlighting their differences.
“I look at it as the best ideas are coming from the neighborhoods, the planning groups, the community associations. You all know what you need in your neighborhoods,” Turner said. “We want a mayor who is not gonna do things to us, but do things for us and empower us ... Put more green in everybody’s pocket. You need a mayor who’s going to do that and just do the basics of make it safe.”
Gloria emphasized what he says are his accomplishments over the last four years, and asked for four more.
“I’ve stood firm on public safety, supported our first responders and as a result, San Diego is one of the safest big cities in America,” he said. “I’ve tackled homelessness head on, expanded shelter and services, banned tent encampments and reformed our mental health laws. I’m doing the work to build more housing so that you can afford to call this city your home.”
