I'll bring 30 years of business experience to help lead Coronado forward in a fiscally responsible and collaborative manner.
I’m excited to announce my candidacy for Coronado City Council in this year’s election! Over the past several years I have studied how our City operates and the importance of having elected leaders that are available to listen to the input of Coronado’s residents. I also understand the challenges that our city will face in the future and I’m prepared to help lead our City through those challenges.
What I am most proud of is my wonderful family. I’m married to my incredible wife Rhonda; together, we have five children and twelve grandchildren. Our love with Coronado began when Rhonda and I were engaged to be married at the Hotel Del Coronado and after visiting Coronado for years, we decided to make it our forever home. We were both raised in small towns, and we quickly fell in love with the small-town charm of Coronado, as well as the sense of community and patriotism that Coronado embodies. When asked, we tell people that we are fortunate enough to live in a little slice of paradise that doesn’t exist anywhere else we have ever been. My motivation for running for City Council is to maintain Coronado as that little slice of paradise for future generations to enjoy.
I am a proven business leader with a strong background in business management, which I believe will serve me well in representing the community on the Coronado City Council. Prior to Rhonda and I moving to Coronado, I owned and operated two businesses with over 800 employees. One of the businesses was a large commercial electrical contracting company and the other was a technology and innovation company providing services to the construction industry. It took leadership and vision that helped to position and grow the companies to become industry leaders in their respective fields. It was an honor and a privilege to lead a team of talented professionals and create hundreds of jobs. One of my greatest pleasures was watching our employees grow in their trade, seeing them advance in the company, and witnessing them and their family’s flourish.
The success and eventual sale of the businesses to company employees has allowed me to focus on greater community involvement, including the Rotary Club of Coronado and now seeking to serve on the Coronado City Council. Because of this, I can dedicate myself to serving the needs of our special community, without needing to balance my time with a career.
I have always been a firm believer that the best decisions come from collaboration and getting input from the other stakeholders. This is how I managed my companies, and this is how I will conduct myself as your representative on the City Council. Your opinions matter to me and I will seek input from our fellow citizens before forming my decisions on items that come before the City Council.
One of the most important functions of government is the protection of its citizens. Coronado has a tremendous asset in our Police and Fire Departments.
We are fortunate to live in a community where we can feel safe going out for a walk at night without being worried about our personal safety. I’m grateful for the fine men and women that serve our community as first responders and I will support them!
Tijuana Sewage Issue
The cross-border sewage flowing into our ocean and onto our beaches is our City’s number one existential threat. I appreciate the work that has been done recently by many members of our community including our current City Council. We now have some good traction on this issue, but there is still much work to be done and the fix is going to take years to complete. This is the most important issue for our City Council to deal with and I will do everything in my power to keep our focus on this until this issue is resolved. I have experience working with leaders at all levels of government and I look forward to advancing Coronado’s advocacy on this issue.
Infrastructure
Another area of focus for me will be Coronado’s infrastructure maintenance and improvements, including improvements to our storm water system. We live on an island that is quite flat and barely above sea level. This poses challenges with both sanitary sewer removal and stormwater drainage. The ongoing Parker Pump Station replacement project will help to alleviate some of the issues, but I believe that more can be done to prevent future tragedies, such as we experienced this past January. None of us want to see people’s homes or businesses flooded so we need to do everything reasonably possible to prevent this from happening again.
Cays Park Master Plan
The City Council decision to move forward with this master plan project has created quite the stir in our community. I’ve heard many arguments both for and against the master plan as it is currently designed. I believe that the master plan should be scaled down. There is no question that the park needs some attention with repairs and enhancements to meet the needs of the community and we should pursue these upgrades in earnest. However, some of the enhancements that balloon the cost to $31.5 to $40 million are unrealistic given the other pressing infrastructure needs and should be removed from the plan. I will be your advocate on the City Council to push for the master plan to be revisited.
Circuit - Coronado Island Express
This 6-month pilot program seems to be a success and we can all see these electric shuttles transporting people around our island. I like the fact that the program provides accessibility to our residents and visitors in both the Cays and the Village. This program can only help to relieve congestion on our city streets and help to reduce carbon emissions. However, even with the high ridership level, the cost to the city is averaging around $14 per ride. In the coming months, the City Council will need to seek community input and evaluate the program to determine what changes may be necessary. Assuming this program remains in effect after the 6-month pilot program, it may be necessary to charge a fee to the riders to help cover the cost of the program. However, we should first explore any opportunities for grants and other funding that may be available to us. I will be your advocate seeking the best and most cost-effective solutions for our community.
SANDAG and Regional Agencies
Coronado needs to continue taking an active role with the other regional governing agencies who have the decision-making authority that impacts our City and our way of life. This includes San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the California Coastal Commission, the US Navy, etc. We need to be open to compromise, but we must be willing to speak up and fight for reasonable and well thought out solutions. An example of this is the 912 low-income additional housing unit allocation that SANDAG assigned to Coronado. I appreciate the work that the City Council did on our behalf to come up with a more reasonable outcome than was originally proposed, but this issue will come back, and we need to be proactive to better position ourselves for any future mandates. We know that change will come, but we must fight for common sense to prevail. I will fight for our community and our way of life.
My focus will be to maintain the things that make Coronado such a special place, while proactively working to position our City for the future. It is imperative that the members of our City Council use commonsense and make fiscally responsible decisions. Coronado is currently fortunate enough to have a surplus of funds, but the city has several large potential expenditures ahead of it that could leave Coronado in a deficit. I have the experience and background to help manage the city in a fiscally responsible manner. I will be your advocate for the City Council fighting to keep Coronado from becoming yet another city wretched by budget deficits and chaos.
I will be hosting several events in the near future to talk about my campaign and to hear your input on the future of our City. I look forward to earning your support.
To learn more about my campaign, please visit my website markforcoronado.com or give me a call at (619) 380-9922.
I humbly ask for your support in my campaign for City Council.
