Council candidates share views at final forum

By: ANDREA MOSS - Staff Writer | Thursday, October 19, 2006 11:38 PM PDT ∞

POWAY ---- This year's City Council candidates shared their views on multiple topics Thursday during a forum at Old Poway Park, with a recent city proposal to build a town center sparking the heaviest debate.

Sponsored by Friends of the Poway Library and the Poway Woman's Club, the event was the last of three public forums that gave voters a chance to hear all the candidates at once and quiz them on their positions on any issue. About 32 people took advantage of the opportunity.

League of Women Voters member Joyce Tavrow moderated the event, during which the candidates were divided into two groups that faced their audience separately. Five people vying for two council seats ---- incumbent Don Higginson, challengers David Knopp and Connie Messina, incumbent Betty Rexford, and challenger Joe St. Lucas ---- were in the spotlight first.

They were followed by Mickey Cafagna and Ed Carboneau, each of whom is hoping to be elected mayor. Cafagna has held the office since 1998.

All three incumbents repeatedly told listeners that they are proud of what the city has accomplished since it was incorporated in 1980. Citing such things as Poway's low crime rate, consistently balanced budgets, plentiful parks and trails, and an envied reputation throughout the region, Cafagna, Higginson and Rexford urged voters to return them to office.

"If re-elected, I will continue along the same track," Cafagna said. "There will be no changes in the direction in which we're headed."

Carboneau, Messina and St. Lucas took a different approach, saying that concerns about the way the city is being run prompted them to enter the race. St. Lucas cited the city's response to conflicts between Poway Road auto dealerships and surrounding residential neighbors, while Carboneau and Messina accused Poway's current leaders of making decisions in secret, not listening to residents and spending public money on grandiose projects while ignoring infrastructure needs.

The three, who formed an alliance that is campaigning together, said they believed it is time for leadership change.

"You're voting for the issues, not the people or incumbents," said Carboneau. "If you vote for Connie Messina, Joe St. Lucas and myself, you will have memorialized what we're working for."

Knopp credited current and past councils with making Poway a great community that many people want to live in. Still, he said, his status as a former city employee and lessons he learned as a municipal recreation manager would enable him to infuse the council with a new perspective.

Questions about redevelopment, affordable housing and Poway Road only emphasized differences in the candidates' viewpoints. The town center project quickly became a focal point.

Still in the conceptual stage, the project will be discussed during four public roundtables scheduled to start Saturday at City Hall. Residents will be asked to share their opinions on, and ideas for, the proposal during the sessions.

City officials have said they will not know how much the project will cost until they find out what residents want it to include and its size is known. Carboneau and Messina were highly critical of the proposal at Thursday's forum, though, saying it will cost $500 million and that the city had no business pursuing "Taj Mahal" projects when small businesses are leaving Poway Road and some neighborhoods need infrastructure improvements.

"I absolutely think we need to put large projects like this to a (public) vote," Messina said.

Higginson called the cost estimate outrageous and joined Cafagna and Rexford in saying they had no idea where the figure might have come from. The three held the roundtables up as an example of how the council listens to residents, said partnerships between the city and developers would keep the city's share of the cost down, and predicted the town center would help attract businesses to central Poway.

St. Lucas set himself apart from his fellow alliance members, when he said he'd like to see the town center include a convention center or small arts center.

"I think if we put something like that there, businesses will naturally want to build up around it," he said.

Knopp said he could see public votes on big-ticket projects, but characterized the roundtables as "a good thing" because they get residents together to talk about what they want.

Election winners will serve four-year terms. The mayor receives an annual salary of $15,151.80, and the other council members make $11,551,80 per year.

The annual salaries will go to $16,335.84 for the mayor and $12,735.84 for the other four council members after the election, because of raises approved by the council in March.

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.

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