Late yesterday, San Diego Mayor released a statement through his attorney in response to the recall effort mounting in San Diego to remove him from office.
The statement reads:
Now is not the time to go backwards — back to the time when middle-class jobs and neighborhood infrastructure were sacrificed to Downtown special interests. We need to continue to move forward!
We have moved toward the vision of producing thousands of middle-class jobs in our port; creating a solar based City to enhance our environment and create jobs; building an efficient international border to bring billions of dollars into our economy; keeping our military and hitech sectors strong and vibrant.
We have produced a creative vision for our Balboa Park Centennial which will make it more accessible and beautiful for our citizens and bring millions of tourists to San Diego. Balboa Park’s Plaza De Panama is at last free of automobiles and will transform the pedestrian experience for the next century.
We have brought world class urban thinkers to transform our neighborhoods into livable, walkable and bikeable adventures. Neighborhood leaders feel a new sense of empowerment and excitement!
We have put millions of new dollars to bring the City’s arts and culture to new levels; our river park systems are experiencing new growth; our homeless population and military veterans have new hope for jobs and self-respect; we are spending more dollars on our road infrastructure than ever before.
We negotiated a five-year labor agreement which brings new stability, hope, and respect for our City employees. Our working people see new hope for livable wages. The expansion of the Convention Center will bring thousands of jobs and millions of tourists to San Diego.
Our position as one of the biggest bi-national metropolitan areas in the world promises new trade, new cultural interchanges and new possibilities. We are developing a proposal for the first bi-national Summer Olympics in world history for 2024!
As your Mayor, I am committed to moving San Diego forward!
Basically, Filner is ignoring all the accusations. The folks in charge of the recall Filner effort report they did not see they statement before it was emailed around.
The City Attorney Jan Goldsmith offered Filner a vague “out” last week but apparently the Mayor isn’t interested. Filner finished rehab last week ahead of schedule and is taking some private time before returning to work. The number of women coming forward with creepy and/or assault accusation is somewhere in the neighborhood of 14.