living-lavishly-728x90
Home » SLO City News » Harmon v. Marx for SLO Mayor
SLO City News

Harmon v. Marx for SLO Mayor

donnas-728x90_general

Fresh off the campaign trail as a delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic Party Convention, environmental activist Heidi Harmon is now officially in the running for Mayor of San Luis Obispo.

Incumbent Jan Marx has held the post since 2010 and is running for what would be her final two years due to term limits.

Harmon has gained experience as a community organizer, specifically around issues of climate change since running against incumbent Katcho Achadjian for State Assembly in 2014. Unlike the clear-cut differences between candidates in that Assembly race, Marx and Harmon are both Democrats with overlap on many local issues.

“I was considering the run for Mayor for months,” Harmon said, adding that she’d told Marx of her decision privately and considered running for other offices, “Coming home [after the DNC] there’s a chance to do something locally.”

“Hopefully our progressive concerns don’t end with DNC decisions,” she said. “The best thing I can do is, pardon the expression, keep the movement moving. Give people something to go for here.”

As for running against someone who shares many of her own goals, at least on paper, Harmon added, “people are concerned about the direction that [politics] and the city is moving. They talk to me about the feeling of being shut out. Having both of us in the race can only be a positive for the community a win-win.”

Besides, after seeing national politics up close, she said, she’s less inclined than ever to tow a party line. Even though municipal offices are non-partisan, the support structures for candidates share many connections.

“I’m really on the edge of leaving the [Democratic Party],” she said. “I’ve started to get support from people that don’t necessarily share my core philosophy, but they’re hungry for a new path.”

Pressed for some detail on how the Mayoral position would be different under her direction, Harmon said that she wanted to create a non-adversarial council environment, both behind the dais and towards the citizenry.  In addition the City’s Climate Action Plan – which Mayor Marx has been involved with since discussions in the 1990’s – should be given top billing.

“The period in which we should have been prioritizing that is well passed,” Harmon said. “We should create a community body to implement that directly. We live in an area with so many talented people that would volunteer their abilities to get this done.”

As for other leadership opportunities afforded the office, Harmon said she’d like to better showcase the work of City Staff through social media and direct outreach.

“Most people are online and there are forward thinking staffers sharing directly,” but she added, impressions are hard to overcome. “The public may sense that staff are working very hard on the agenda they’re given. They [the public] may not be able to see if it’s the agenda that represents their interests.”

Tags

Upcoming Events

  1. Central Coast Weavers Guild’s 10th Annual Sale and Gallery Show

    November 4 @ 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
  2. 26th Annual Harvest on the Coast

    November 4 @ 6:00 pm - November 6 @ 10:00 pm
  3. 26th Annual Cayucos Car Show

    November 5 @ 9:00 am - 4:00 pm