15 Candidates Qualify for San Diego City Council Races

Fifteen candidates qualified for the June 3 primary election ballot for San Diego City Council races, the City Clerk's Office announced today.

The finding came after the candidates filed their nominating petitions last week. The city requires interested candidates to bring in valid signatures from 100 people registered to vote in their district.

The list of candidates for even-numbered council districts include three running for reelection -- David Alvarez, Myrtle Cole and Lorie Zapf.

Alvarez, who lost the mayoral runoff election last month to Kevin Faulconer, will try for a second term in District 8, which includes Barrio Logan and South Bay neighborhoods.

He will face Lincoln Pickard, a retired contractor. Valley Coleman III, who also filed for District 8, was the only prospective candidate who did not qualify.

Cole, who won her seat in a special election last May, will run for a full term in District 4 in Southeast San Diego, against Lemon Grove School District trustee Blanca Lopez Brown, real estate agent Tony Villafranca and former district policy advisor Bruce Williams.

Zapf currently represents District 6 but will seek the District 2 seat vacated by Faulconer. When City Council maps were redrawn a couple of years ago, her residence fell into his beach and bay district.

Federal prosecutor Sarah Boot, Pacific Beach community activist Jim Morrison and Mark Schwartz, a marketer of organic fertilizers, will challenge her.

Candidates for Zapf's current seat will be San Diego County Taxpayers Association Vice President Chris Cate, special education assistant Jane Glasson, education consultant Carol Kim, community and veterans activist De Le, and ex-San Diego Unified School District Trustee Mitz Lee.