Attorney Rebecca King is running for Coronado City Council on a platform centered on forcing city contractors to open their financial books to the public.

King is one of four qualified candidates competing for two open seats in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election, according to the city's election page. The other candidates are Andrew Gade, appointed Councilmember Kelly Purvis and Ricky Hoyt.

The accountability push grew out of a specific fight. At a Coronado town hall meeting, King stood up and challenged the city's director of golf and recreation services over a tennis court rental fee, as the Coronado Times reported.

"I'm sorry, … but that's just not true," King told the director.

The ordinance on the books set court rentals at $5 for two hours per resident. The director had reinterpreted it as $5 per person. King filed a public records request for the revenue and cost data behind the increase and pointed out the City Council had never voted on it. The city held rates at $5 per court.

Redacted records and a proposed fix

Years later, Coronado contracted its court operations to Impact Activities, a private company. When a fee increase of up to 300 percent was proposed, King again filed a public records request. Because Impact Activities is private, the financials came back almost entirely blacked out. The Coronado Times reported King stood before the council holding a document so heavily redacted it was nearly solid black.

King told the paper the tennis disputes reflect a broader pattern. She said that when a private company receives a city contract, it does not have to disclose how public money is being spent.

Her proposed fix: require every city request for proposals to include a clause making bidders' financial records tied to the contract public. She said she would apply that standard to infrastructure projects including pipe replacement and new fire stations.

Sewage crisis and regional coalition

On the Tijuana River sewage crisis, King said Coronado was slow to declare an emergency and wants more public, plain-language testing data. She pointed to UC San Diego researcher Kim Prather's work on sewage-contaminated sea spray as a model worth expanding, particularly in the Coronado Cays near Silver Strand Elementary.

She also wants San Diego County to extend the air filtration units it provides to Imperial Beach residents to Cays residents.

King argued the city carries more weight as part of a regional coalition than on its own, noting Coronado's roughly 10,000 to 11,000 registered voters represent a small bloc compared to a countywide alliance of cities and nonprofits.

Fire stations and e-bikes

King wants to fast-track fire station construction to meet the recommendations of Coronado's Community Risk Assessment (CRA), saying modern facilities are needed to recruit and retain firefighters and police. She also wants to replace aging water and wastewater pipes.

On e-bikes, she proposed modeling changes on ordinances in Carlsbad and Danville. After a dangerous incident, police could impound a rider's e-bike, and the rider would have to complete a safety course before getting it back. A minor's parent would face the same requirement.

King practiced law in Norfolk, Va., and worked for the Commonwealth's Attorney's office before her husband's Navy career brought the family to Coronado in 2007. They returned permanently in 2018. She has served on the Design Review Commission, the Coronado Unified School District's Guiding Coalition and the CoSA Foundation Board.

Council Member Carrie Downey and former Mayor Casey Tanaka endorsed King's candidacy, according to her Aug. 20 announcement. The other three candidates and city officials have not publicly responded to King's contract transparency proposal in available records as of publication.

Vote-by-mail ballots are scheduled to be mailed Monday, Oct. 5. The voter registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 19.