I had the pleasure of bringing my family along to the Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council’s First Annual Bubble Pop event. My son enjoyed popping and making giant bubbles, alongside many other games and the overall fun of being surrounded by community.

Thank you to the Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council and sponsors for putting together this lovely event for the community. I’m sure it will continue to bring joy to our neighborhood for years to come!

Infrastructure investments and public safety—I advocate for these core priorities because running a city efficiently is all about bringing it back to basics and taking care of peoples’ needs. Oftentimes, these priorities overlap, and we can make strides in both with common sense projects like the 25 MPH signs recently installed in Del Cerro.

After a Del Cerro resident reached out to request signage near the school, my Community Representative for Del Cerro, Anthony, worked with the Transportation Department to follow through on the request. Take a look at the results below!

Linda Vista has new community leaders! Thanks to Bayside Community Center's incredible Leadership Academy, a new batch of graduates are prepared to work on two projects: slowing down streets and making improvements to the Linda Vista Park playground. My Community Representative, Miles, stopped by to present the graduates with certificates.

Bayside Community Center continues to engage deeply and meaningfully with the Linda Vista community. Thank you to everyone involved in propelling this program forward, and thank you to the Leadership Academy graduates for your selfless dedication to improving the community.

The City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department (ESD) provides opportunities throughout the district for residents to leave bulky items on their curb for pick up. Linda Vista residents participated in a recent mini cleanup to remove a total of 16.65 tons of waste! I extend a big thank you to ESD staff for organizing this service and to the residents who took advantage of it.

Lots of exciting news out of Mission Valley this month!

I was thrilled to join the River Park Learning Center Grand Opening. The San Diego River Park Foundation has been educating San Diego youth and residents on the importance of the San Diego River since 2001. Their longstanding role in keeping our waterways clean and safe has been invaluable--and now, they have a physical space to expand their outreach and continue their great work for years to come.

I look forward to seeing this learning center act as educational community center and hub for environmental stewardship. Thank you to all of the agencies involved in funding and contributing to this important step for the San Diego River Park Foundation.

The Civita neighborhood continues to demonstrate that housing is not just a roof over your head -- it can and should be built to promote community and bring us closer together. Every summer, the Civita neighborhood hosts a free concert series, which invites residents and surrounding neighbors to enjoy music and San Diego's beautiful summer weather.

I stopped by one of the concerts last month. It was wonderful to see folks in the community. There will be more concerts--I highly recommend stopping by one of them if you can.

The City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department (ESD) provides opportunities throughout the district for residents to leave bulky items on their curb for pick up. San Carlos residents participated in a recent mini cleanup which resulted in the removal of 5.89 tons of waste! I extend a big thank you to ESD staff for organizing this service and to the residents who took advantage of it.

Interested in having a Mini Bulk Cleanup on your block? ESD hosts one to two a month and determines the location by referencing a running list of residential requests. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office with your request. We are happy to pass your street name along to ESD.

Last month, Your Safe Place (YSP), in partnership with the Better Business Bureau in Serra Mesa, hosted its Annual Backpack Giveaway to support the children of YSP's clients who have been impacted by domestic violence. The beginning of the school year is often stressful for families, especially those living under uncertain or violence-impacted circumstances. Your Safe Place plays a pivotal role in setting children up for success and reducing some of the strain of this yearly transitional time for families.

Thank you to Your Safe Place for this incredibly important work--your personalized care and trauma-informed work is, undoubtedly, transformational for San Diego families.

If you'd like to contribute to YSP's mission, they are always accepting donations. All contributions serve children, teens, and adults who have been impacted by domestic violence, family violence, older and dependent adult abuse, strangulation, sexual assault, or sex trafficking. You can find more information on how to contribute here: Get Help | Your Safe Place

Did you know that, while e-waste accounts for only 2% of weight in the landfill, it accounts for 70% of the toxicity? Last weekend, we hosted a free e-waste recycling event at the Tierrasanta Recreation Center. In partnership with Nerd Recycling, we diverted two full vans worth of e-waste from the landfill.

Enormous thank you to Nerd Recycling for partnering with us on this event--and thank you to the hundreds of residents who stopped by! We look forward to hosting more of these throughout the district.

Our Mission Trails news looks a bit different this month. Last week, we hosted a retirement celebration for our Director of Office Administration, Cheryl Willis, at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center. We were so glad to share our memories of Cheryl, our excitement for her well-deserved retirement, and our thanks to her family and friends for sharing her with the City for 35 years. The peaks of Mission Trails were an excellent and stunning backdrop.

Cheryl, thank you for 35 years of dedicated public service. For those who don’t know Cheryl Willis, she will be remembered for her incredible sense of humor, always-full bowl of candy (which was greatly appreciated by all on the City Council floor), and warmth with which she treated constituents and all those she interacted with each and every day.

Though we will all miss you a great deal here at City Hall, we wish you a happy retirement and lovely time spent with your grandchildren. All the best to you and your family, Cheryl!

Last month at City Council, multiple items caught the attention of the public. Here's my breakdown on how I voted for City Council items you may have seen in the news.

Paid Parking in Balboa Park

I voted NO on creating a parking meter zone in and surrounding Balboa Park, which would allow the City to install meters on the outskirts of Balboa Park on 6th Ave and Park Blvd. The full package, including on-street and off-street parking rates, hours and resident discounts will not be before the City Council until September. However, I am not prepared to support creating this zone as I have major concerns about paid parking at Balboa Park.

While the City is facing tough budgetary times, my concern is that charging residents for parking will inadvertently hurt families with limited spending, seniors on fixed incomes, and volunteers, all of whom rely on free parking to enjoy one of San Diego's most beautiful, free experiences. I provided lengthy feedback to City staff about how the City should maximize a free option, not rush people out of the Park when visiting, and work with the cultural institutions to incorporate their ideas, for when they return in September. Ultimately, if they fail to do so, I reserve my right to vote no.

Affordable Housing Disposition and Development Agreement

The City Council voted to enter a disposition and development agreement to develop 101 Ash into affordable housing with childcare and retail space. This allows the City to open escrow with the developer and provide them the opportunity to finance and develop the project.

I voted YES after scrutinizing the project and questioning the developer, city staff, and independent budget analyst on this agreement to ensure that the City will not provide any cash to finance the project, nor will the City be responsible for any potential issues with the development.

Faced with the option to move forward with an opportunity to generate $3.5 million and keep a renovated asset at the end of the lease, or demolish the building and sell it outright, I think the more pragmatic approach is to keep the building while generating additional revenue. And with safeguards written into the agreement, if the developer fails to secure financing or performance milestones, the City can walk away from the agreement.

Contracts

The City Council often votes on contracts -- while it can be one of the more "boring" parts of the job, I find our contracts to be great opportunities to examine where we can save money and operate more efficiently.

Last month, we voted on some contracts related to chemicals at our wastewater facilities. A few years ago, I raised concerns about the City not having enough protections in place that would guarantee the most competitive pricing. A contractor was requesting a retroactive price increase of 21% for these chemicals, which I did not agree with because new rates should only be negotiated when contracts are up for renewal. Based on that lengthy conversation at the Environment Committee almost 3 years ago, the City has now restructured the contracting agreements so that:

These sorts of contracts are agreed to for one year only with four optional one-year extensions, which can be triggered by the City – putting control in our hands
Price increases cannot exceed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 5% -- vendors cannot just come forward with any price increase they want
We’ve formed a working group with other cities and water agencies in the region to compare prices and make sure that nobody is getting charged unfairly

I was glad to vote YES on these contracts, knowing that we are protecting your taxpayer dollars, and properly investing them in the services and supplies that keep this city running smoothly.

Last month, I had the pleasure of joining Joey Safchik on NBC San Diego's Politically Speaking Segment. We talked through the budget, the trash fee, immigration, and much more. If you have not seen it already, it was a very pleasant conversation and allowed me to communicate my decision-making processes as your Councilmember. You can watch the full interview here.

Sincerely,