Lightner taking new approach

Sherri Lightner, who replaced Todd Gloria as San Diego City Council President last week, says the council will focus more on economic development and achieving manageable goals under her leadership.

“It shouldn’t be about symbolic actions,” said Lightner, a Democrat who joined with the nine-member council’s four Republicans to make the switch possible. “The city has enough real needs that we’ve got to get stuff done.”

Those needs include job creation, boosting police pay and upgrades to decaying infrastructure, Lightner said during a wide-ranging interview in her council office Friday morning.

Under Gloria the last two years, the council tackled some ambitious items, including climate change, raising the minimum wage and a controversial plan to hike affordable housing fees paid by developers. The first is still being analyzed and the other two were stymied by referendum challenges.

“I want to see something get done,” Lightner said. “It’s not about ‘Oh, we did this plan and we’re going to stick it on the shelf to collect dust.’ I want things that come to fruition and benefit the community.”

Councilman Scott Sherman said last week that her “nuts and bolts” approach was one of the key reasons he and his fellow Republicans on the council opted for Lightner over Gloria as president.

Gloria declined to comment on Friday.

Lighter said she also prioritizes some things differently than Gloria, particularly economic development.

“We’ve got to get the incentives for economic growth and job creation improved,” she said. “Many council policies address incentives, but they’re from the 80s and 90s and they don’t get used.”

Lightner said she was pleased to see incentive deals forged this year with medical equipment maker Illumina and microbreweries Ballast Point and Alesmith, contending the city should be making many more such agreements.

“We’d like to go to these businesses and say ‘hey, how come you’re not using these incentives and what would be good for you,’” Lightner said.

Other economic development priorities will be fostering the city’s Maritime Alliance, a nonprofit focused on boosting ocean-based science firms, and creating an incubator for technology start-ups in the old central library at Eighth Avenue and E Street, Lightner said.

Lightner has a track record in this area. She’s been chairwoman of the council’s economic development committee since it was created three years ago, and she played a key role last summer in the council adopting the city’s first comprehensive economic development strategy since 2001.

The 114-page document outlines proposed efforts to attract more businesses in four core sectors — manufacturing, military, tourism and international trade — because those industries fuel the economy with money from outside the region.

Lightner said another focus of her leadership will be helping other council members get things done, suggesting that probably played a role in her being selected council president.

“I think a big part of why I have this job right now is that my colleagues know that I respect them and that I want to help them achieve their objectives,” Lightner said. “I view the council presidency as a service position — it’s about helping my colleagues advance their agendas and be the best that they can be.”

Lightner also touted her “independence” as a reason she was chosen, saying that she stands up to special interests, including labor unions, when the good of the city conflicts with their agendas.

Unlike most of the council’s Democrats in recent years, Lightner has mixed support from labor, with some supporting her, others declining to back her and still others that sought to thwart her re-election in 2012.

But she said Friday that joining with the Republicans to take the council president job away from Gloria was not an instance of her trying to get revenge on labor leaders.

Lightner also said she didn’t lobby anyone for the job, indicating that having her replace Gloria was an idea generated by Republicans inside City Hall.

“The first I heard about it was in the paper,” she said.

Now that she has it, though, she says she’s ready.

“I’ve geared myself up for this position since I got elected six years ago,” said Lightner, noting that term limits will force her off the council in 2016. “I have things I want to get done and I don’t have much time.”

Lightner and Gloria have praised each other since Wednesday’s tense hearing and vote, with both expressing confidence they’ll work well together in their new roles.

But Lightner had to sit through dozens of speakers praising Gloria and calling the move unfair, while she received essentially no support from the public.

On Friday, she said Gloria had done a great job as council president and that she was confident his status as a rising star in the Democratic Party hadn’t been damaged.

“Todd is a terrific individual,” she said. “He’s achieved great things and there’s nothing that will keep him from achieving what he wants to do.”

Lightner, 64, said she won’t be using the prestigious council president job as a stepping stone to higher office.

“I’ll be 66 in two years, so as far as politics I think I’m pretty much done,” she said, suggesting she might return to the role she played before getting elected. “Maybe I’ll become a community activist again.”