San Diego’s mayoral candidates met leaders of the city’s technology and biotechnology community last week, giving views on everything from growing an economy to moving cars through Sorrento Valley.
Judge Dick Murphy and county Supervisor Ron Roberts spoke Sept. 25 at the La Jolla Marriott Hotel in a forum sponsored by a dozen economic development and technical groups.
The candidates showed many similarities. Both, for example, said they support a moratorium on taxing E-commerce.
Asked about top international trade issues , excluding border issues , both pointed to the need for a new international airport. Murphy called for an air cargo facility at Brown Field as well; Roberts said nothing on the issue.
One problem sure to be on the new mayor’s desk is traffic congestion in the county’s largest job center, the Golden Triangle.
Murphy said he wants to see how the Interstate 805/Nobel Drive interchange works. Additional, short-term solutions, he said, could include the extension of Judicial Drive from Eastgate Mall to Nobel Drive; the widening of La Jolla Village Drive from Towne Centre Drive to I-805; and the opening of a Coaster commuter train station in north University City. He added he supports a San Diego Trolley extension to the area, but that addition is “pretty far away.”
More Roads
Roberts called for “environmentally sensitive” ways of opening north-south roadways in the Sorrento Valley area, which could be alternatives to the north-south freeways and could provide a link to Highway 56.
He called for additional freeway access to Sorrento Valley Road, and called for opening more of that road “in a way that does no damage to the environmental areas, but allows us the use of that.”
Roberts said he has differed with Murphy on the Sorrento Valley Road opening. Murphy only made an indirect reference to the disagreement during the Sept. 25 gathering.
Moderator Scott Horsley of KPBS Radio asked the two candidates how they would promote pride in San Diego’s biotechnology industry and maintain a positive atmosphere for it. He asked specifically about controversies over genetically modified food, stem cell research and prescription drug prices.
Murphy said that as mayor he would “stand tall” in Washington, D.C., and in Sacramento, advocating genetically modified crops and stem cell research. Likewise, he said he would advocate against price controls on prescription drugs.
“I don’t see how we are going to encourage the biotech industry to make the investment in research and development, and not (be) willing to let them make a fair profit from their investments,” he said.
Support For Biotech
Roberts made a general statement that it is “important that we have a mayor who’s willing to stand up and publicly acknowledge what is right and help to endorse those things that are healthy that we should be doing.”
He cited genetically modified foods in particular.
Roberts said he supported the low-level radioactive waste dump at Ward Valley in San Bernardino County, a proposal that has since died due to federal objections. He also said it was “important to have a mayor who is going to ensure that we have adequate supplies of water and cheap electrical power,” adding that as county supervisor, he has “not sat quietly by in either of these instances.”
The two candidates also weighed in regarding a recent study of labor and the high-tech economy. The Center on Policy Initiatives study of late September is critical of the emphasis the local economic development strategy puts on high-tech industries, maintaining the strategy benefits only some workers.
Murphy defended the emphasis.
“The Economic Development Corp. and a lot of others have been visionary,” he said. “They’ve seen the future of San Diego, the future of America, is in the high-tech/biotech areas.
“I disagree with that report. Hope they’re not voters,” Murphy said, drawing laughs.
Roberts said he was thankful for local technical and biotech companies, recalling a time when “if Convair laid off, the whole city went into a tailspin. We don’t have that any more and I think it’s real positive.”
Both put in good words for traditional local industries like tourism and the military.
