Beginning in the fall, I’m looking forward to returning to the private sector. As a result, I won’t be running for re-election to city council in November.
Thank You
Thank you to Coronado for a wonderful 5 years of public service. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working hard for residents, taxpayers, and small businesses. My every word and action as your Councilwoman has been intended to restore civility, ethics, integrity, transparency and financial reason to city council and to city hall.
We are stronger when we work together. Most notably, I’m proud to have worked with residents, council and staff over the years to successfully:
1. Kiss the Coronado Tunnel boondoggle goodbye
2. Enter Coronado into the National Weather Service’s Tsunami Ready & Storm Ready programs
3. Provide financial analysis of Coronado’s approximately $500 million off-balance-sheet Pension Debts & Redevelopment Debts
4. Suggest many reasonable ways to cut out the gross waste from our annual city budget plans
5. Initiate city enforcement against illegal vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods
6. Save 6 Orange Avenue bus stops from elimination by our city
7. Cause Starbucks to withdraw its liquor license application from the ABC
8. Launch our city’s beach fire pit clean up
9. Initiate our city’s smoke-free ordinance
10. Save several historic homes from demolition, including a beautiful mid-century house on Glorietta Boulevard
11. Designate many historic homes under the Mills Act for Historic Preservation to preserve our village atmosphere
12. Reinvigorate Neighborhood Watch to protect residents and our property
13. Initiate regular reporting of litigation costs to city council for the purpose of reducing legal costs
14. Focus the city on traffic management for neglected Third & Fourth Streets by disclosing this neighborhood’s special legal claim to the Bridge Toll Revenue Funds that the city misspent on other projects
15. Increase disaster preparedness through Coronado CERT and Coronado Emergency Radio Operators (CERO)
16. Protect Coronado’s water interests as Commissioner, Finance Committee Chairwoman, and Pure Water Recycling Project Steering Committee Member on the Metropolitan Wastewater Joint Powers Authority (Metro Water JPA)
17. Request more bus service in Coronado as a Member of the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Board
18. Protect Coronado’s beach environment as a Member of the SANDAG Shoreline Preservation Group
19. Inform residents and receive residents’ input through SPEAK OUT CORONADO Town Hall Meetings in our library
20. Transform city dialogue to be inclusive of the Coronado Shores, Cays, and Village and unite residents
21. Provide government transparency through my popular website www.DailyCoronado.com, which also has been praised by experienced journalists from Sacramento to Manhattan for transparency and accuracy in the analysis of Coronado city finances, and more.
Encouragement for Good Candidates to Volunteer
I strongly encourage candidates to run for city council who are pro-resident, fearless, not conflicted by personal interests, professional, non-partisan, critical thinkers, not rubber stampers, and willing to learn the facts about our city finances.
The deadline to file your candidate papers with our city clerk is Friday, August 8. Contact [email protected] or 619-522-7320 immediately for more information.
There are two open council seats to be filled this November. Unfortunately, only 2 people have pulled papers to run so far. Both people are personally conflicted by their business interests so they can’t put the best interests of all Coronado residents first. Both are well known for their extreme kowtowing to the resort hotel that appears poised to take over our public beach now. Both have belligerently defended the Hotel del Coronado’s future plan to greatly expand its development footprint in violation of the public safety standards set by the complex AICUZ-ALCUP-Coronado General Plan process. This pending process is meant to stop overdevelopment encroachment of the military airport at NASNI.
Future Risks: Tax Hikes & Much More
Over the next four years there will be many critical council votes for residents regarding many proposed tax hikes in various forms. It doesn’t matter whether you call them increases in improvement fees, fixed assessments, service charges, bond debts, parcel taxes, or ruby-throated hummingbirds. They are all the same thing in the eyes of the law — taxes extracted from our wallets by the city over and above our Proposition 13 guaranteed limit on local property taxes to 1% of our assessed property values.
Coronado’s annual cut of our total 1% local property tax dollars, state tax dollars, and other tax dollars grows larger and larger every year. Together, they provide city officials with enough Other People’s Money (OPM) to operate our small city. City officials must stop their rubber-stamp decisions and make the hard choices to cut out the gross waste documented in our annual budget plans in order live within our city’s ample means. Undeniably we are overtaxed in Coronado due to our premium beach location. Just like the recent 60% sewer tax hike by the mayor and councilmen, all future tax hikes that will be proposed are unnecessary, wasteful, and abusive.
There will be many more critical votes over the next four years related to beach access, overdevelopment, AICUZ-ALCUP-Coronado General Plan process, storm water system, sewer system, golf course irrigation system, Pension Debts, Redevelopment Debts, and more. It’s crucial to residents that at least two candidates out of our population of approximately 23,000 step up to the plate now and run for office out of altruism, rather than self-interest. The risk to all residents is that no one will protect our best interests.
Warmest regards,
Barbara
Barbara Denny, Esq.
Coronado Mayor Pro Tem
Email [email protected]
Telephone 619-522-2637
