Mayor Outlines Key Strategies at NAIOP

SAN DIEGO—Mayor Bob Filner addressed 360 members and guests of NAIOP San Diego, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, at a breakfast meeting on Tuesday, February 5, 2013. The overriding theme of the Mayor’s comments was his desire to fix the local economy and “get San Diego excited about moving forward again.”

Filner outlined his key strategies to improving the economic health of the city:

• The Port. By increasing the working waterfront, Filner sees thousands of jobs being created, especially in the skilled labor area, which would provide high wages. He plans to work with the Port and the San Diego City Council to this end.
• Aqua Jobs. A blending of green (sustainable industry) jobs and blue (ocean and water industries) jobs, Filner wants SanDiego to be the first city to have an aqua economy. “People say government can’t create jobs,” said Filner. “What we can create is an environment for jobs.” He cited the example of his plan for all city buildings to be solar powered within five years and how such an initiative will spur the economy in other areas.
• The Border. According to the Mayor, $6 billion is lost annually by people not traveling across the border to San Diego to shop and use other services due to border wait times. “With the proper staff and technology, we can make the border wait 10 minutes,” he predicted, adding that he is “trying to get the situation moving forward.”

The Mayor also addressed building permitting in San Diego, an issue important to NAIOP. Filner recognized the need for a faster system with fixed fees and told the audience “I want to involve you” in the process for developing such a system.