Join me for another Coffee with Campillo next weekend! We’ve got the coffee covered — just bring your questions, concerns, and ideas.

📆 Date: Saturday, September 6

🕒 Time: 9:30am to 11am

📍 Location: Bayside Community Center, 2202 Comstock St, San Diego, CA 92111

Being an elected official isn’t just about making decisions — it’s about listening. These conversations help shape the work I do at City Hall, and I hope you’ll stop by and share what’s on your mind.

RSVP by emailing VVettiyil@sandiego.gov or by clicking here: https://forms.office.com/g/6nRL24JeL2

As of one week ago today, San Diego’s new package of ADU reforms went into effect. No longer will loopholes in San Diego’s ADU laws allow apartment-style developments to be built in places where they really shouldn’t be; instead, with these new laws we have prioritized safety, balance, and common-sense.

First, the new ADU rules prioritize public safety: minimum 4-foot setbacks in High and Very High Fire Severity Zones are required for defensible space, ADUs must be located on streets with at least two evacuation routes, and affordable/bonus ADUs must include fire sprinklers.

Second, we are paring back from the huge ADU projects that were never in the spirit of what San Diego’s ADU law was ever about. Now, there is a maximum ADU cap based on lot size (e.g., 4 units on ≤8,000 sq. ft.; 5 on 8–10k; 6 on >10k).

Finally, these new reforms update San Diego’s ADU rules to require off-street parking for affordable and bonus ADUs in areas not close to transit.

Thank you again to all who wrote in about this important topic and played a role in San Diego ending up with this fair new set of laws around ADUs.

San Diego County recently released overdose data for 2024 — and while the data is encouraging (deaths down 21% from 1203 to 945 - the second year in a row of decline), there is still much more that needs to be done. By continuing to invest in San Diego’s behavioral healthcare system such as through projects funded by Prop 1, we can build on this progress further. A huge thank you to the dedicated organizations, care workers, and volunteers whose lifesaving work is reflected in this data.

So many of us in Tierrasanta and nearby have enjoyed Gaetano’s for years for their hearty Italian food – and now, they need our help. Per an interview this week with ABC 10 News, Gaetano’s may have to close soon due to economic factors; folks are eating out less, which has impacted Gaetano’s. The restaurant will turn 50 years old on November 17th – and Petros Provataris (the owner) as well as his daughter Nota are hoping to at least make it to that milestone.

In District 7, we love our small businesses – so if you are a Gaetano’s fan, please consider showing them some love to help them stay open just a little longer.

Sixty years ago this week, The Beatles made their one and only stop in San Diego — playing a half-hour set at Balboa Stadium that some locals still remember like it was yesterday. Interestingly, while tickets cost just $3.50 to $5.50, "only 17,013 of the 27,014 available tickets were bought," per the Union-Tribune. I guess San Diegans weren't quite feeling the Beatlemania enough to sell Balboa Stadium out, although in a classic Beatles trope about their time performing live, several people remember it being exceedingly difficult to actually hear their music above the screams.

In any case, it's pretty amazing that San Diego was the center of the music universe for that night – read more about it in the U-T’s article about this here!