Cal Poly administrator enters SLO mayor race

Paving of Mitchell Park lot expected to be top issue against Dave Romero

By Sally Connell

San Luis Obispo now has at least two candidates planning to run for mayor, and a proposed parking lot at Mitchell Park in the heart of the city is expected to be a major issue in their campaigns.

Incumbent Mayor Dave Romero is expected to face a challenge from Stephan Lamb, the associate director of Student Life&Leadership at Cal Poly.

Lamb, 56, recently announced his intention to run.

The races for City Council and mayor are starting early this year. Official papers cannot be filed until July for the

November election. Romero has not announced but is expected to run.

Lamb is the chairman of the city’s Human Relations Commission and has worked in different capacities volunteering with the homeless and Woods Humane Society. He also lives near Mitchell Park and is a leader in the campaign to fight the construction of a small parking lot there.

The lot is being proposed to serve seniors who visit the San Luis Obispo Senior Center along Santa Rosa Street.

Romero worked for 36 years as the city’s public works director before serving eight years as a council member. He is now in his sixth year as mayor. He will be 80 in September, and his term will expire in December.

Romero has embraced his “Dave the Pave” moniker; he is one of the biggest advocates of roadwork in the city. He supported the half-cent sales tax increase called Measure Y in 2006 in part to see such work funded.

Romero strongly supports building the parking lot for seniors in Mitchell Park.

Lamb said he wants to work toward creating a new community center that would have a special area for seniors and parking to serve their needs, instead of fitting them in the small building in the park.

“I think there is something more important than asphalt to the city,” Lamb said, stressing that he does not believe in paving over any parkland. Lamb said he agrees with the various advisory bodies that have bucked the City Council’s decision to finance the parking lot.

The lot as now envisioned would provide about 14 spaces and replace an unused shuffleboard court and a fenced area behind the center. It may or may not affect a horseshoe pit, depending on how it is designed.

During the council’s 2007 budget process ranking priorities, Romero and three other council members put improvements to the Senior Center — including the lot — high on their list.

City Councilwoman Christine Mulholland ranked it slightly lower but stressed that she would not support the lot.

Three city advisory boards to date have refused to support a General Plan amendment that would allow the parking lot to be built. The proposed amendment is expected to go before the City Council on May 6.

“I think the concern I have is that this person (Lamb) is using this to run against me,” Romero said, adding that the parking lot is very small and will result in no net loss of parkland used by visitors.

San Luis Obispo is a charter city in which the mayor is elected for a two-year term as a voting member of the City Council and chairs its meetings.

The other four council members serve four-year terms.

Those running for two council seats open in November include incumbent Councilman Paul Brown, former Councilwoman Jan Howell Marx and Dan Carpenter, a member of the city Planning Commission. Brown has not announced yet formally, though he has filed “intent to run” papers with the city clerk.

Mulholland’s seat also will be up for election, but term limits prevent her from running again. She could run for mayor as she did in 2006, but she has told The Tribune she has no such plans.