Our endorsements for San Luis Obispo mayor and City Council | Opinion

San Luis Obispo voters will select a mayor and two City Council members in November, and while the field of candidates is relatively small, there is guaranteed to be at least one new face on the dais next year.

Councilmember Andy Pease, who has served two terms, is ineligible to run again under the city’s charter, which limits council members to two consecutive four-year terms and the mayor to four consecutive two-year terms.

That leaves Jan Marx as the only incumbent in the council race, while Erica Stewart is running for a second term as mayor.

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Why do we endorse?

Making endorsements during election season is an important role for newspaper editorial boards, including The Tribune Editorial Board. Elections are key to determining the future of our Central Coast region, and through endorsements, we share our opinion of the qualifications of the candidates and recommend those who would best serve our communities.

Due to the large number of races on the 2024 General Election ballot, we are unable to issue endorsements in every race. We chose to focus on the most competitive contests.

For more about our process, click the arrow on the top right.

Who endorses?

Endorsement decisions are made by Editor Joe Tarica and Opinion Editor Stephanie Finucane.

How do we decide?

Candidates are invited to participate in an interview with The Editorial Board where they are asked a series questions about major issues. It’s our opportunity to learn the candidates’ positions and to gauge how well informed they are about issues they are likely to confront if elected.

We also research voting records of candidates who have held public office; we watch candidate forums; we look at back stories from The Tribune, as well as other publications that have covered the candidates; and we examine public documents. We also take a look at the candidates’ advertising and campaign statements. Are they overpromising, for example, or misrepresenting their opponent’s record?

In the case of ballot measures, we study the background of the issue, the pro and con arguments and consider who is supporting and opposing the measure.

Tell us what you think

If you disagree (or agree) with our endorsements, share your thoughts with us by writing a letter to the editor (200-word maximum). Email your submissions to letters@thetribunenews.com. Due to the volume of submissions we receive during campaign season, we do not publish Viewpoint-length pieces (600-800 words) in support or opposition to candidates.

Mayor’s race

Stewart has just one challenger: Don Hedrick, a perennial candidate and self-described Don Quixote who first ran for office in 2006 following a beef with City Hall. He’s competed in almost every mayoral election since then, usually finishing with just a few percentage points.

The fact that it’s not a competitive race says a lot about Stewart’s performance since she was appointed mayor in 2021, following the resignation of Heidi Harmon.

The last two years in particular have been remarkably calm and nearly free of major controversy, aside from the public outcry over an increase in parking fees — and the council wound up backtracking on that.

Stewart’s leadership has been a contributing factor. The city has made progress on many of its goals, including housing development and the revitalization of the downtown.

A careful decision maker, Stewart is not afraid to go her own way on a council that often has similar views.

When the council updated its affordable housing ordinance in 2022, for example, Stewart cast the only no vote. As The Tribune reported at the time, the mayor said the plan felt incomplete; was missing diversity, equity and inclusion guidelines; and could lead to local developers losing business to larger, out-of-town builders.

A Cal Poly graduate, Stewart teaches public speaking in the university’s College of Liberal Arts, co-owns Albert’s Florist in San Luis Obispo and has a long list of community involvements.

She knows San Luis Obispo inside and out, represents the city with grace and diplomacy and has a knack for gaining the public’s trust.

Stewart is the kind of mayor the city is lucky to have.

City Council race

Four candidates are running for two seats on the City Council:

• Mike Boswell, a city planning commissioner and professor with Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning Department.
• John Drake, a recent Cal Poly graduate who is a project manager and coordinator with the county Behavioral Health Department. In 2022, Drake ran for state Assembly at age 21. “I’m sick of seeing people live and die on the streets. I’m furious at the inaction of our state government — a government more concerned about the ‘parliamentarian’ aspect of government than actually solving issues,” he said at the time.
• Felicia Lewis, a graduate of San Diego State and an eight-year resident of San Luis Obispo. Lewis is a chef who operates Gumbo Girl, a pop-up restaurant. She is active with the NAACP and volunteers with SLO in Bloom.
• Jan Marx, an attorney and former dean of the San Luis Obispo College of Law, who is seeking her second consecutive term.

All four candidates are sharp, knowledgeable and care deeply about the city.

Drake and Lewis are young renters who live downtown and bring a perspective that’s too often missing in local government. They know what they’re talking about and aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo.

At this time, however, Marx and Boswell, are the strongest candidates in this race.

Marx has served as an elected official in San Luis Obispo for 16 years, both as a City Council member and mayor.

She’s been one of the city’s strongest advocates for conservation of open space and while she’s had a reputation as a “slow-growther,” Marx advocates for affordable housing for both buyers and renters.

“It’s the Wild West out there, so I really feel the city needs to step up and do more to protect our tenants from landlords who are greedy and don’t have any constraints on them,” she told The Tribune Editorial Board.

Marx is smart, she does her homework and she is is a strong voice for underserved communities, including seniors who are unhoused.

Boswell’s knowledge and experience both as a professional planner and as a planning commissioner would be a huge asset on the council. He’s also served on the advisory committee that oversees expenditure of the city’s supplemental sales tax revenue.

One lesser-known bullet point in his resume: In his 26 years at Cal Poly, Boswell has biked to work almost every day, and in a city where cycling is a popular — but sometimes dangerous — activity, that, too, is an asset.

“I really want to take a look at how we’ve been prioritizing where we’re making investments in bicycle infrastructure,” he said. “I really think our priorities need to be on our more major streets which is, frankly, where almost all of the deaths are occurring.”

Boswell would be a strong addition to the City Council, which is especially important with Andy Pease — an exceptionally qualified and hardworking councilmember — stepping down.

The Tribune Editorial Board strongly endorses Erica Stewart for mayor and Jan Marx and Mike Boswell for City Council.

This story was originally published September 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM.