With Pride less than three weeks away, the community is buzzing with preparations for “the most wonderful time of the year.” Parties are being planned, outfits are being sown, and community organizations are scrambling to pull off what is sure to be the best Pride yet. But wait… what are we forgetting?

Just three days before Pride weekend kicks off, the GLBT community (that’s you!), along with the rest of San Diego, will parade down to the polls and cast their vote for the next mayor of San Diego – again. This year’s election is perhaps the most important San Diego election in decades, and with such a close race between candidates and an expected low voter turnout, the GLBT community has an opportunity to pick who will be marching in our parade that coming Saturday. Imagine what an impact our community could make if the same number of us that attend Pride weekend turned out at the polls on July 26.

This election is special, and not just because it’s called a “special election.” Our new mayor will be buff – well, not literally – but come Jan. 1 our current council-manager system of city governance will be set aside temporarily for the new strong-mayor approach; temporarily because it’s just a trail run – voters must decide after five years to re-approve or ditch the measure ending Dec. 31, 2010.

Who’s going to flex this city’s new muscle is really up to us, but it begs the question: Just how ripped will the new strong mayor be?

We get the idea – strong equals more power – but voters need to understand exactly what responsibilities the new mayor will posses when they determine who the best candidate is to lead the city.

Currently the mayor is the chief elective officer of the city, holds a vote on the council, and is kind of a wimp in comparison to the city manager. The argument against the council-manager system is that the city manager, who is hired and fired by the council, wields more power than both the council and the mayor – with no public accountability, because the city manager is not elected.

Come 2006, however, the mayor will strip the city manager of most responsibilities and become San Diego’s new chief executive officer. As the CEO, the bigger, stronger mayor will handle the day-to-day operations of the city, including assembling and apportioning the city’s annual budget, alleviating the imbalances of power between the city manager and elected officials.

The mayor will not be all powerful, however. He or she will no longer be required to sit on the council and will not have a vote. The mayor retains the power to veto those resolutions and ordinances adopted by the council, but veto power will not extend to matters of internal municipal rules regarding specific decisions of the council – such as issuing land use permits – and five council votes can override any mayoral veto.

So that brings us to the candidates. Councilmember Donna Frye, polling in the mid to upper 30th percentile, is a shoe-in for a runoff election in the fall unless she wins outright by capturing over 50 percent of the vote (which is not likely), with former police chief Jerry Sanders and businessman Steve Francis, both Republican, duking it out for the number-two slot.

This week the Gay & Lesbian Times interviewed each of the candidates, asking them a wide array of questions pertaining to San Diego’s future, the city’s pension fund and the GLBT community (San Diego News, page 14).

In next week’s editorial we will announce our endorsement and weigh in on the Mt. Soledad Cross ballot initiative, which asks voters if the cross/war memorial should remain on public land or be moved to another location.

The message here is to vote. This year’s Pride theme is “Equal Rights! No More, No Less!” Beneath the glitz and glam, Pride is really a celebration of the accomplishments our community has achieved in its fight for equality, and also a strong reminder that, despite our achievements, we still have a long road ahead. Take the first step down that road before Pride even begins by casting your vote July 26.