In a few weeks, Ron Morrison’s 12 year run as mayor of National City will come to an end because of term limits.
Contemplating his future away from the mayor’s seat, Morrison admitted he had “seriously considered retirement.”
But after looking at the bigger picture, Morrison decided to put retirement on hold.
Instead the termed-out mayor will attempt to continue his decades of public service by seeking one of two seats on the National City City Council.
Morrison, 68, is one of six city council candidates on the November ballot that includes Sherry Gogue, Mona Rios, Candy Morales, Jose Rodriguez and James Kim.
Before being elected mayor in 2006, Morrison was a three-term council member.
Morrison insists that going from the mayoral office to a city council candidate is not a “blow to my ego.”
“The people that would say it’s a demotion are either saying that from a political standpoint – they want to take a political dig – or they don’t understand National City,” he said. “I think if they really understood National City they would realize that serving the people of National City could never be seen as a demotion, I certainly do not see it as one. I see an opportunity to continue serving this city and seeing the good things that have happened in this city progress.”
Morrison said what convinced him to become a council candidate instead of retiring is that National City is trending upward.
He said the city has made tremendous progress –under his leadership as mayor — and he wants to be a part of continuing to steer National City in the right direction.
Morrison said he wants to prevent National City from moving backwards, which he said could happen if the wrong candidates are elected.
“I have a fierce love for this city, and our community as a whole,” he said. “This town and these people have become my life. And the last thing you want to see is something negative happen to it, especially for all of the wrong reasons.”
He said he doesn’t have to be the mayor to be a leader. A council member can also lead as they dedicate themselves to the job. He said as a councilmember he will still get to serve on leadership roles by serving on boards and committees.
Amongst the things Morrison said he wants to help is guide the development of the city’s downtown district. He said for the last several decades downtown National City has been a ghost town.
But now, there is development waiting to happen and new businesses wanting to come in. He said it’s important that downtown National City gets developed correctly and he wants to be a guiding hand.
He also wants to make sure National City continues getting its fair share of funding from the Port of San Diego and that the city continues to get a voice at the table with the development of National City’s Port area.
As mayor, Morrison said he’s had many accomplishments. The one accomplishment he’s most proud of is changing the reputation of the city, moving away from the “Nasty City” stigma to having a positive image.
He said by changing the city’s reputation away from Nasty City, it restored pride back into National City.
Morrison does not support Measure W, a ballot measure for rent control in National City.
“The rent control initiative is about as terrible as you can get,” he said. “It will put National City backwards in so many ways.”
Morrison said rent control is normally for cities that have very high rent and that are desirable areas with limited building growth.
He said that’s the contrary to National City because National City has one of the lowest rents and housing prices in the county and it’s not considered a desirable area like Rancho Santa Fe or La Jolla.
Morrison said if elected, he’s willing to work with the new mayor and new city council.
He said council members and mayor may have disagreements with each other over issues but that getting along with each other comes down to respecting one another despite their differences.
“You respect whoever is in the mayor’s position,” he said. “You always respect that position, they are the mayor, you’re not. Now that doesn’t mean you don’t disagree with them.”
