Being (Surprise) Mayor of the Nations's 8th Largest City

Update: On October 20, the Mayor's Director of Scheduling confirms his appearance at the Point Loma Rotary Club on October 24.)

Speaker:  Mayor Kevin Faulconer

Invocation and Introductions:  Ken Osborn

My Career:  Ken Osborn (celebrating another year!)

Kevin Faulconer (born 1967) was elected the 36th mayor of San Diego in a special election in February 2014.  He was sworn in on March 3, 2014 and will serve through the end of 2016. Until becoming mayor, Faulconer served as a City Council member representing District 2, serving from January 2006, including two years as the council president pro tem. He is a Republican - one of the few Republican mayors of a major American city - although under state law local government positions are nonpartisan.

Faulconer graduated in 1990 from San Diego State University. He and his wife, Katherine, a small business owner, live in Point Loma with their children, Jack and Lauren.

From his website (http://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/about/index.shtml):

In his first "One San Diego" budget, Faulconer directed 50 percent of all new major revenue toward neighborhood improvements like street repairs, sidewalks and streetlights. He targeted the City's pothole problem by doubling the amount of asphalt repair done annually. He increased the hours at libraries and recreation centers to their highest level in a decade and created an afterschool program for students in areas with the lowest test scores. He installed a firefighter "Fast Response Squad" in Encanto and an additional ambulance unit in South Bay to significantly improve emergency response times.

Faulconer has also made significant changes to bring transparency and efficiency to City government. He appointed Shelley Zimmerman, the first female police chief in San Diego history, to change the culture in the San Diego Police Department. Working with labor unions, he created an incentive program called San Diego Works that rewards employees for money-saving ideas that improve City operations. He also kicked off a major overhaul of the City's website that will make it more user-friendly and seeks to employ local San Diego tech companies to do the work.