San Diego to become “The Worlds Most Innovative City”
Nathan Fletcher today released his plan to make San Diego the best place in the world to create 21st Century, good-paying local jobs. The plan outlines specific steps he will undertake and specific metrics that will make the Fletcher Administration accountable for progress.
The plan also outlines an effort to rebrand San Diego as “The Worlds Most Innovative City.
“The next Mayor must not spend another decade re-litigating the problems of the past, but instead must focus on the opportunities of the future,” said Nathan Fletcher. “I am running for mayor because I believe San Diego expects its leaders to take on big problems, bring people together to find solutions, and then get them done. I want to be a mayor who says ‘my job is job creation,’ a mayor who brings together the private sector, public sector, City, State and Federal leaders to find ways to put San Diegans back to work.”
Fletcher’s plan makes his administration accountable for achieving specific results:
1. Create a competitive environment that will contribute to the creation of 130,000 new jobs in our region by 2020.
2. Increase the number of patents generated in our region 33% by 2020; measure progress each year and report the numbers.
3. Increase the amount of venture capital San Diego receives 33% by 2020, bringing the total to more than a billion dollars annually.
4. Increase exports from our region 33% by 2020. That would equate to a $5 billion increase, bringing our total exports to over $20 billion annually by 2020.
5. And finally, to ensure balanced economic growth and ensure we have a robust middle class, the fifth goal will focus on increasing the median household income 33% by 2020. That increase of over $18,000 would bring regional median household income to close to 60,000 a year.
The plan also outlines seven areas of focus to achieve job creation metrics, including:
1. Mayor as Regional Economic Leader. Focus the Office of Mayor as one dedicated to being a regional economic leader. Re-structure the City’s economic development functions into one department charged with working every day to get San Diegans working again.
2. Build on Our Core Competencies. Build and maintain our core economic drivers: defense/military, tourism and technology.
3. A New City for a New Economy. Modernize the City’s permitting efforts and start a new effort to incentivize job creation by offering expedited, time-certain permitting based on how many jobs a business or project will hire and the environmental standards they are meeting.
4. Global City: Reintroducing San Diego to the World. The next Mayor has the opportunity to market and sell San Diego and the opportunities in our region to the rest of the nation and the world. Nathan will lead delegations aboard and throughout America to attract investment and economic advancement in San Diego.
5. Protecting our Base. Protect the jobs we have. Nathan will launch small business support teams that will work outside of City Hall in the community helping San Diego business owners with permitting, regulatory compliance and accessing City services.
6. Education: An Economic Issue. Bridge the gap between our current education system and the one that will bring San Diego into the future
7. Infrastructure: The Foundation We Build Upon. Work to implement Nathan’s previously released infrastructure plan along with working to invest in our ports, transit, air, and rail systems of the future.
“In order for America’s Finest City to become the World’s Most Innovative City, San Diego city government must lead by example. We must take a fresh look at everything city government does, and put a new set of eyes on old problems to find innovative solutions,” Fletcher added.