Comments so far on this story:

1. Ed (Point Loma) wrote on March 3, 2008 12:41 AM:
"1) Affordable Housing. For many years the City Council declare a state of emergency on housing, little is done and the homeless population grows. With much fan fare last year, a blue ribbon task force was selected. My understanding is they haven't even met as a group yet. 2) Transportation. Stagger work shifts and encourage more work from home possibilities to ease traffic. 3) Law Enforcement. We should demand more honest data from Police Administrators and courteous treatment for all people. Establish two tier PD. One level for serious matters, one for the simple. 4) You'll love this: Raise taxes. No one is going to leave San Diego if you add another one cent sales and tourist's taxes. 5) Campaign Finance Reform. Developers, etc. would pay into pool, to be"

2. mel wrote on March 3, 2008 8:46 AM:
"Gil should learn the meaning of "independent." Since an auditor will audit the mayor's departments,i makes no sense for the mayor to influence the appointment. None of the 5 largest cities in the U.S. let the mayor be involved in choosing their city auditor. Why should San Diego be different ? Suppose you are being audited y the IRS. Do you get to choose the IRS auditor ?"

3. Disappointed wrote on March 3, 2008 8:47 AM:
"As owner of a timeshare complex, we see your 'bend' for the 'visitor' and 'traveler' luxuries. Obviously you haven't lived here (or LA/OC) long enough to be 'stuck in gridlock'. Can't you see how 'repeating the same mistakes' with 'just a trolley line here or there' will do very little for San Diego's huge expanse & present & future population? You're in favor of 'wiping out Peninsula or Midway, or both, a huge tax base - keeping Prime Ocean and Bay front properties 'used by an airport' that cannot 'service the county for more than a few more years,' even with such reckless 'expansion costs?' Short-sighted, Mr. Cabrera, indeed. Perhaps you should stop pandering to the ideas of the 'short-term only' profit-minded downtown group and proliferating their ideas, or just stop speaking like a blithering fool. I pray your 'ethics/law foundations' are not so glibly established."

4. JF wrote on March 3, 2008 9:14 AM:
"1.)I like the idea of publicly financed campaigns.But, I feel that to be successful, ALL candidates need to participate and use ONLY public money.Your idea may likely waste public money on candidates who still can't compete with the big bucks.2.)We do need new faces in politics.The low pay of city council is hurting that.Those bright young faces you speak of are making good money in the private sector, but not enough to throw it away for $75K/year.3.)Absolut not sure if you know that there used to be trolley lines down Adams, El Cajon Blvd and University.Go look at Trolley Barn Park at Adams and Park.I'd add trolley service up the I5 and I15 corridors.5.)For Mission Hills, there's also a great Mexican place along the N side of Washington around 3rd.And Little Italy is just down the hill and Hillcrest around the corner."

5. Gil Cabrera wrote on March 3, 2008 11:28 AM:
"The auditor would be auditing every City department -- a few of which aren't run by the mayor. And if you diffuse the decision between the stakeholders as suggested and make it impossible to fire the person without serious cause, I think you get independence. Some of the 5 largest cities make it an elected position, which I think just brings more politics into the position."

6. Richard wrote on March 3, 2008 11:33 AM:
"Mr. Cabrera has some worthwhile ideas until he got to our local airport. If he lived in or commuted to New York, Chicago, Philadelphia or Denver to name a few or reviewed the topographical studies of Lindbergh field he would realize how ridiculous it is to expand Lindbergh field. Yes, lindbergh Field is convenient at the present but it is the wrong location for any kind of projected growth. The future center of population in the county in 2020 is projected by SANDAG to be near Miramar. Rail access already exists. The public needs to reserve Camp Elliot before developers grab it."

7. Ever heard of terrain? wrote on March 3, 2008 6:05 PM:
"Your dreams of an expanded Lindbergh ignore the technical realities of terrain, which have been and always will be Lindberghs problem. You can forget the fantasy of a second runway, it's not physically possible. You couldn't build the existing runway with todays FAA standards."

8. Charlie Lindbergh and his plan wrote on March 3, 2008 7:07 PM:
"Uh, you may think this is the cloudburst of a flyin' fool, but here goes: A new runway could be placed west of Five, over the river and out to the beach. To do it, you'd have to cover the river in the mother of all concrete table tops and let it flow beneath the runway and it would look like a kind of huge freeway overpass. But it would give planes a relatively painless approach to SD, connect with the current airport with a trolley along Nimitz and Harbor Boulevard and not interfere too badly with much else besides. And before you flip your wigs at the idea, look at your maps and you'll see it makes more sense than Jerry's buddies and their loonbucket plan for a new airport in Imperial with a two-hour train ride to get to it. Peace."

9. JR wrote on March 3, 2008 7:18 PM:
"Gil, Discover El Cuervo at 1st & Washington, the market on Ft. Stockton and Hawk, Saffron, Gelato Vero and El Indio at India & Washington, Alex's Greek on Fifth & Uni, City Deli, Bronx Pizza, Cilantro and if you're feeling financially suicidal, the food bar at Whole Wallet. While eating, revamp your thoughts on auditors; they should be elected and as free from politicians' interference as possible. We also need to run the bozos who plan streets out of town on a rail, since they keep bisecting roads and made downtown driving much harder than necessary. Mass trans would be nice, especially if you follow Portland's model and offering candidates a break on city bus ads tied to websites is one way to cut media greed for the high cost of political ads. Oh and give Disappointed some Prozac to go with his whine, too. What a twisted grouch..."

10. Fred Williams wrote on March 8, 2008 11:29 PM:
"Chairman of the Ethics Commission Cabrera wrote: "Think of the benefits we could get from an internal watchdog reviewing how the city spends its money without fear of political retribution for bringing embarrassing or incompetent uses of public money to light." Uh, Gil...isn't that YOUR JOB? As Chair of the Ethics Commission you DON'T do this? No wonder we're in such a mess. I guess you're admitting that you fear "political retribution", or that you don't have resources to do your ethical job. It sure doesn't look good..."