Dear Neighbor, 

San Diegans want and deserve clean and safe neighborhoods – and the City has stepped up to provide an enhanced level of service to the areas that need it most. 

Last year, I directed City departments to collaborate more closely to clean up neighborhoods impacted by tent encampments. In November, we launched a pilot of the Enhanced Hot Spot Program, which dispatches the City’s Environmental Services Department to provide public right-of-way waste removal, focused specifically on areas most heavily impacted by homelessness. 

Since launching this program, City crews have been out seven days a week doing this work. So far, they have picked up 580 tons of trash. For context, that’s two and a half times the weight of the Statue of Liberty! 

The program makes a big difference, which is why, in my “Getting It Done” proposed budget, we are moving it from a pilot to permanent service. 

Encampments and the buildup of waste around them pose a public health danger for both those experiencing homelessness and those who live, work or go to school near them. As we work to help people resolve their homelessness, this program is aimed at addressing the current situation on our sidewalks. 

The success of our comprehensive approach to solving this issue of tent encampments, which includes a substantial increase in shelter options, also largely depends on the City Council’s approval of the Unsafe Camping Ordinance. It will ban camping in canyons and riverbeds and near schools, shelters and transit hubs. 

The City Council will vote on the Unsafe Camping Ordinance on June 13. I encourage you to contact my office and your City Councilmember to voice your support for the ordinance. I look forward to signing the ordinance into law. 

The ordinance is the latest step in our comprehensive efforts to address homelessness in our city. It is a necessary part of my commitment to cleaning up our sidewalks and getting people off the streets and on a path to ending their homelessness. 

As always, it’s an honor to serve as your Mayor.

Mayor Gives First-Ever ‘State of Balboa Park’ Address  

Did you know Balboa Park turned 155 years old last week? To help mark the occasion, I delivered the first-ever “State of Balboa Park” address to provide an update on the current and future improvements coming to our City’s crown jewel.

The highlights include the exciting renovation of the Botanical Building and our work toward getting the defunct Starlight Bowl back up and running. We are also launching a new prioritization plan, which will help us be more strategic in how we continue to address the backlog of deferred maintenance that has piled up in the park.

Another highlight was having the opportunity to honor Betty Peabody, who, along with her late husband Homer, has long been a steward of Balboa Park. I presented Betty with a “Key to Balboa Park” in acknowledgment of her decades of service to protect and improve the park.

Together, with folks like Betty Peabody and nonprofit partners like Forever Balboa Park, I know we can keep this park taken care of well into the future.

I want to thank the folks at the Natural History Museum for hosting; Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes Balboa Park, for emceeing; and singer Gloriana Valerio, San Diego Poet Laurette Jason Magabo Perez and the Young Lions Jazz Conservancy for performing at the event.

Watch the full “State of Balboa Park” address here.

Revitalization Coming to the Convoy District

A new day is dawning in the Convoy District.

For years, Convoy was just a street in Kearny Mesa, but it has steadily grown into one of the largest Pan-Asian businesses districts in the nation. Convoy is now the place to go for some of the best Asian food and cultural experiences in the region. It has truly become the heart of our AAPI community.

We’ve taken a big step forward to revitalize this important cultural district with the groundbreaking of Trammell Crow's new housing project, Convoy Square. Alongside that new housing will be new and improved infrastructure for the growing Convoy District, which includes a full repaving of Convoy Street! From State Route 52 all the way to Kearny Mesa Road, we'll resurface 3.4 miles of the highly driven thoroughfare.   

We are also adding enhanced mobility options to improve safety for all road users, and later this year, we will be installing a new Convoy District gateway sign.

I’m excited to work with Councilmember Kent Lee and the community on this important placemaking project for our city.

Mayor Gloria Signs Tenant Protections into Law 

I have signed the Tenant Protection Ordinance into law.

This new law will provide stronger protections and support for renters who face eviction through no fault of their own, and it will help more San Diegans stay housed amid our severe housing shortage, which is pushing many into homelessness.

I want to thank Council President Sean Elo-Rivera for his leadership on this issue and all the community members, rental housing industry representatives and others who helped craft this new law that will work to make San Diego better for all of us. 

U.S. House Moves to Make Fentanyl Schedule 1 Designation Permanent  

In my State of the City address in January, I called on Congress to make illicit fentanyl a Schedule 1 drug. The Schedule 1 designation would mean severe prison sentences for people caught dealing this highly addictive drug, which is the No. 1 killer of Americans aged 18-45. 

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would do just that. 

House lawmakers voted to make permanent harsh criminal penalties and strict controls on all fentanyl-related drugs. Fentanyl analogues are currently temporarily classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, but the legislation would make the classification permanent. 

Illicit fentanyl is a crisis for San Diegans and the rest of this country. I hope the Senate acts by passing this legislation and ultimately saving lives. 

Lincoln High Hornets Honored for Winning State Championship 

San Diego has had an epic run when it comes to our sports teams in recent years.

The Padres advanced through the playoffs last fall; the San Diego State Aztecs Men’s Basketball Team reached the NCAA championship game earlier this year; and Major League Soccer recently announced a new San Diego team coming in 2025.

On Tuesday, we got to honor a San Diego team that brought home a championship – the Lincoln High School Varsity Football team!

We invited the team and Coach David Dunn to City Hall last week to honor these extraordinary young men’s accomplishments with a Key to the City to spotlight their incredible journey to winning the state championship against a highly favored team with many championships under their belt.

The team also received a proclamation from Council President pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe, whose district includes Lincoln High.

We’re not only incredibly proud of the team’s athletic accomplishments, but also proud of the fact that so many of the players made Honor Roll, with most of the seniors on the team accepted into prestigious universities they’ll attend this fall.