This story was reported for the San Diego News Network on August 17, 2009.
Councilmember Anthony Young has made some major changes in his life. He’s been a baseball player, a teacher and a staffer for a former councilmember. And when he least expected it, his boss died – leaving him to decide what his next move would be.
Through prayer though, he ran for the council office and won in a grassroots effort. Now, he’s in the local political spotlight and it doesn’t just shine on him – but the rest of his family.
The city’s fiscal health, his wife’s call to 911, and his future in politics – Young discusses it all here.
My road to do in-depth interviews with as many politicians in the county as possible, took a detour to Young. Honestly, he wasn’t at the top of my list but when I e-mailed his staff some ideas he could blog about for SDNN’s political blog “A More Perfect Union” and I didn’t get any blogs, I decided to turn those ideas into questions for an interview and then into this story.
As chair of the budget committee during a dismal time, a director for SANDAG when the city’s carbon footprint is larger than that of Los Angeles, and board member for the Airport Authority for an airport with one runway and an expanding clientele, Young is at the center of some of the city’s most key issues.
“When are you going to blog for SDNN?” I asked Young as Steven Bartholow, SDNN’s multimedia editor, set up the camera for the interview.
“I don’t do blogging,” he said.
“K-Fauk does,” I told him. “K-Fauk” is a nickname he gave Councilmember Kevin Faulconer. He says it’s like “K-Fed,” Britney Spears’ former husband Kevin Federline. In turn, K-Fauk calls Young “T-Money” because of his role with the city’s budget.
“Oh he does?” he asked.
“Yup, all the time,” I said.
“OK, I’ll think about it.”
Before I get to my first interview question, I notice Young’s shoes and am shocked. They were the shiniest shoes I’ve ever laid my eyes on and made my Franco Sarto heels look dirty. Later, Bartholow would tell me it took him about 10 minutes to figure out where the extra light was coming from during the interview.
“I’ll have to edit the video,” he tells me laughing.
Young began his political career as chief of staff for a councilmember in the same district, Charles Lewis. Lewis was elected to office in 2002 and died half way in his term, at the age of 37 – a tough pill for Young to swallow at the time. Lewis, who was facing charges of corruption alongside councilmembers Ralph Inzunza and Michael Zucchet at the time, grew up with Young.
Young says after Lewis died he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next and thought about going back to teaching. After all, he was a teacher just two years prior.
“Through prayer, I learned the best thing to do was to run for the things we Charles Lewis and Young] had worked very hard for,” Young says. “I ran on the issues and we ended up winning the office.”
Young says he was the underdog compared to rival and former councilmember George Stevens but the decision was up to “God” and he chose Young – at least that’s what Young says.
“God has a plan for us,” Young says. “If you want to see God’s sense of humor, tell him your plan. His plan for me was to be a councilmember in the fourth District.”
Young continues — in a casual, soft-spoken demeanor, not something you would expect from a man with the shiniest shoes in the world – and says he made it clear he was and is still sincere about his intentions as a politician.
God’s plan for Young included some whirlwind turns though. Prior to politics, Young taught history to seventh graders and described the time as his “heydays.”
But before his 11-year teaching career, Young was a baseball player and was even scouted. Young says he went to Howard University on a baseball scholarship and threw 90-miles-per-hour fastballs as a pitcher.
Young was even inducted into the Hall of Fame at Southwestern Community College and has a number of baseball trophies to vouch for his athleticism.
But his baseball career ended in one day.
“I stole second in a pickup game…stole third and slammed my shoulder in the ground,” Young says. “I dislocated my shoulder. I was 21-years-old. Luckily, I paid attention in school and got my degree. That clearly was His [God’s] plan for me.”
“I had a good record.”
But no biggie – as it’s all a part of God’s plan, he says.
God’s political plan for Young
Young’s “heydays” ended though and he took a swift turn, with the help of God, into politics. Now, he says he has to know a lot about many different issues, including a lot about finances.
It’s no secret San Diego is facing some major economic problems. Young, doesn’t attempt to fluff up the problem either, he says he needs to know what people are willing to do without.
Earlier this year, the councilmember – who chairs the budget committee — began a series of budget meetings throughout San Diego where he surveyed residents on what they needed most from their government.
“We didn’t ask them what do you want more of but we were real with them and asked them what are you willing to do without?” Young said. “I think that type of realism was very helpful in identifying the needs and wants of the community and then eventually making the decision to make some major cuts.”
“It’s a very challenging thing for me right now.”
“Would you say that’s your biggest challenge?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he says, adding that his political reputation will be based on the city’s finances.
An obviously stressful topic for Young, we continue talking about the city’s economic status. He talks about the audits he has had to complete alongside councilmember Kevin Faulconer.
“It’s great working with him. We are always up front and honest with each other, and we’ve become good friends,” said Faulconer. Faulconer also said one local TV host refers to them as the “Dynamic Duo.”
Young then throws in a common phrase among politicians, “I want to change the way we do business.”
I ask him how he plans on doing that. He says there are three steps to take when it comes to the city’s finances.
First he says he wants to continue to ask people, “What types of services do they want the city to provide?” Second, improve the audits and find out how much money San Diego really has. Third, and this step may boost Young’s political image, is to establish a commission competitiveness and revenue, he says. The commission would address those two steps and be made up of people from all sectors of the city, including: business leaders, taxpayer advocates, labor leaders, environmental activists and representatives from all the council and mayor’s offices.
He says he has proposed the idea and the process to establish the commission may begin as soon as September. By doing so, Young says with assurance, more people will bring their business to San Diego.
He pitches other ideas too. For example, like offering advertising opportunities during major events or charging for parking at the beaches during Fourth of July weekend.
“So those are things we’ll need to talk about,” he says. “This should be a discussion throughout the city if we do that people will understand how much things cost and why we don’t have the money to offer certain services.”
He isn’t just the chair of the budget committee though. Young also serves on the board for SANDAG.
I ask him why studies have shown San Diego’s carbon footprint is so much larger than Los Angeles.
“I think the transportation system is not as green friendly because it’s not as extensive,” he says. “People can’t go up I-15 using a rapid transportation system, for example or the trolley doesn’t go up to UCSD or the coaster does not run often enough.”
But he says it’s becoming “more and more extensive” and says SANDAG will have to look at the resources to create a better system. He goes on a couple more minutes about what the region’s leaders need to consider.
“Do we have the resources though?” I ask him.
He doesn’t take a breath and quickly answers: “No we do not have the resources to do it. It’s a national problem. The region of San Diego needs to find a way to appropriately fund these endeavors.”
He does say though, the percentage of taxes devoted to transportation is “almost pathetic” but the decisions were made nearly 20 years ago.
On the topic of transportation, I ask him how green friendly the airport is and/or will be with the new terminal.
“It’s a pretty impressive place,” he says and describes its recycle water program and green-friendly light fixtures. “It’s as green as any airport that’s being built now.”
Bringing the interview to his district, I ask him about some of the issues facing his constituents.
He says issues such as safety, lack of services, and foreclosures are at the top of the list. But he is working on redevelopment and attempted to find more investors. In addition, he says, he wants to improve financial literacy in the area and overall, education.
“Kids are not educated the way they should be to perform in the new market place and compete internationally,” Young says.
But, the councilmember says he’s hopeful, as just the night before the interview he went to a community meeting and saw hundreds of people hold a health discussion of what to do about the state of their district and communities.
Young then tells me about his district office, which he sits in every Friday and allows constituents to visit him from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. without appointments. He says although he listens to their problems, sometimes they play “therapist” for him.
Interested in the concept, I visit him during one of these Fridays to talk and wound up in the waiting room talking to local contractor Larry McClure. McClure tells me he visits the councilmember often to discuss his concerns with labor projects in the city, specifically with unions and Project Labor Agreements.
The contractor even lets me sit in on the meeting as he speaks to Young.
“PLAs really force you to become a union,” McClure tells Young. “Unions only represent 25 percent of the workforce.”
As McClure continues about his concerns for his business, which is non-union but provides health care to all 175 employees – Young doesn’t look directly at him but makes it apparent that he’s listening. The easygoing Young calls McClure “brother” throughout the conversation and even pops a few Tic-Tacs.
Political aspirations, hobbies and lots about wife Jackie
Back to the day of the interview, I tell Young Assemblymember Lori Saldaña just announced her candidacy for the County Supervisor position for District 4 and that “someone” told me he may consider a run too.
“I haven’t filed any papers,” he says.
“So you’re not considering it?” I ask.
“No, not at all,” he says.
“Then where did that rumor get started?”I ask.
“You have to tell me, who were you talking to?”
“I don’t reveal my sources,” I tell him.
He laughs and says: “I’m not really here to move up on any political ladder. The way I look at things… wherever I am I’m going to try and do a good job. I’ll get a message of where I need to go next when the time comes.”
And for now, he just wants to hold his position next term.
I move the conversation towards his family. I couldn’t help it but I ask him about the 911 phone call his wife made in April.
“What happened there?” I ask.
For some reason, Young is somewhat surprised by the question – I’m not sure why however, as I told two of his staff members I would ask him about the call.
“I’ll just say that me and my wife love each other very much,” he says. “It was a crazy day; we shouldn’t have gotten to that level.”
He goes on for a few minutes about the “testament of their love for each other.”
I take the last portion of our interview to a lighter topic and ask him what his hobbies are and about his daughters.
Hobbies include: body boarding at the bay, working out and collecting comic books. And, his four daughters?
“The joy of my life,” he says with an apparent pride in his face and demeanor.
Then he brings the conversation back to wife, Jackie, after talking about his children.
“We’ve known each other since high school,” he says. “It’s difficult raising kids these days but they really are mine and Jackie’s focus.
“My family is fine. My wife and I are totally in love with each and we will continue to be so. We’re just two people trying to raise a family in San Diego and do the best we can. Sometimes it’s a challenge.”
He goes on a few more minutes about how happy he and his wife, who works for District Attorney Bonnis Dumanis, are.
“Feel like Britney Spears sometimes?” I ask.
“No,” he said. “I never feel that bad.”
Hoa Quach is the political editor the San Diego News Network.