Dear Neighbor, 

I just returned from our nation’s capital alongside 170 local civic and business leaders as part of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 15th annual Mission to Washington, D.C. This is where San Diego civic and business leaders advocate for funding and legislation that benefits our local economy and residents.  

The issues we advocated for this year included major infrastructure projects like highways, rail, ports, border infrastructure and water, as well as laws that benefit San Diego’s economy in general.

The federal government has an interest in helping local governments keep their infrastructure and operations sound, but the dollars they have to augment our funding isn’t unlimited. Traveling to our state and national capitals is an opportunity to persuade officials that the funding we're requesting is worthwhile, both because the initiatives we’re pitching are in line with state and federal goals and also because we can be trusted to deploy the funds efficiently and effectively. 

Our continuous advocacy has resulted in San Diego seeing a huge uptick in resources for our region. Last year, the City achieved a 62 percent increase in grant funding awarded over the prior fiscal year. That number translates to $229 million secured by the City's grants team last year. And if you compare that funding to before my administration took office, that’s an incredible 172 percent increase in grant funding over what was awarded in 2019.

We plan on building on that success this fiscal year to continue delivering for San Diegans.  

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

Crime Stats Show: San Diego Remains One of America’s Safest Big Cities

San Diego consistently ranks among the safest big cities in the country, and last year was no different. 

I’m proud to report that we saw an overall decrease in crime in 2022 by 7.5 percent. When compared to 2021, last year’s data shows reductions in four of the seven categories tracked. 

Both murder and rape were down last year by 10.5 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively, though we saw a slight increase in violent crime due to upticks in robbery and aggravated assault. Property crimes showed a 9.7 percent decrease overall.  

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) is taking steps to address the uptick in robbery and assault by focusing on intelligence-led policing, continuing to engage with communities, targeting resources to areas seeing high rates of violence and working to proactively prevent crimes before they occur.

The overall decrease in crime is great news, and proof of SDPD’s commitment to keeping San Diegans safe. In return, I will continue to ensure SDPD has the resources they need to make this downward trend the norm for years to come.

Mayor Gloria and Council President Elo-Rivera Present Tenant Protections Ordinance  

An unfortunate reality of San Diego’s severe housing shortage is that, for every 10 people who were able to exit homelessness through housing, another 13 people fall into homelessness – many for the first time. So, even though our efforts to get people off the street are working, continual progress on homelessness is hampered by an influx of new people becoming homeless. 

That’s why we have to prevent homelessness before it starts.

City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera and I have worked on a measure to help protect tenants who are evicted for reasons other than nonpayment of rent or other breach – for instance, when their landlord wants to remodel their apartment and rent it at a higher price.

Last week, we released a draft of a new ordinance designed to provide a high level of protection for renters to stay in their homes if they are paying their rent and complying with the terms of their lease.

The draft ordinance is the result of a collaborative process that includes tenants’ rights advocates and representatives of the rental housing industry, who helped ensure the ordinance is feasible and will meet the objective of making housing more secure for thousands of San Diegans at risk of becoming homeless. 

Right now, renters are protected under a 2004 City ordinance called the Tenants Right to Know. That ordinance supersedes the state Tenant Protection Act passed last year that has far greater protections for renters than our local ordinance, so part of the new Tenant Protection Ordinance we’re proposing makes the City regulations consistent with that state law.

In a few key areas, it goes above and beyond the state law. Our ordinance offers protections that apply to renters on Day 1 of a lease, with an exemption for short-term leases. It also offers financial assistance when a tenant’s lease is terminated through no fault of their own. We also included accountability measures to make sure bad actors can’t get away with violating these protections. 

Renters and landlords are currently operating under an outdated ordinance, which only provides protections for renters who’ve lived in their residence for at least two years. It’s well past time to update it and help renters stay in their homes or get help when their lives are disrupted by a no-fault eviction.

The proposed ordinance will be heard at the City Council meeting tomorrow, April 25.

As Rain Stops, Road Repairs Kick into High Gear

The sun is finally shining again, which means City crews are hard at work patching potholes and resurfacing streets.

The rain not only makes it impossible for our City crews to get out and do this important work, it also exacerbates potholes and road damage.

Over the next few weeks, the City will be resurfacing streets in and around the communities of Bankers Hill, Linda Vista and Pacific Beach thanks to the continuing slurry seal program that is repairing and resurfacing roads citywide. 

Division Street in Valencia Park in Council District 4 also got repaved last week. 

And our pothole teams are making some serious progress. In fact, since Jan. 1, our crews have filled approximately 30,000 potholes.

In January, our pothole backlog reached 2,233 because of heavy rains. We conquered that backlog before a series of spring storms pushed it back up to over 1,500. By Friday, our City crews have gotten that backlog down to 447, and we plan to fully eliminate the backlog by early May. Please keep those pothole reports coming by reporting them through our Get it Done app. 

Collaboration is Key to Building Homes for San Diegans of All Ages and Incomes  

Together with Bridge Housing, we just broke ground on a new project called Kettner Crossing that includes 64 affordable apartments for low-income seniors. Five percent of the units will be set aside for seniors enrolled in the County of San Diego’s Mental Health Services Act program.  

I’m proud that the City was able to assist with a portion of the financing with a $4.5 million loan to help fund these much-needed homes for struggling seniors in our community. 

The project sits on formerly underused surplus County land. Something that I don’t think gets enough attention is this new era of cooperation among the City, the County and other local agencies in tackling our biggest challenges – like housing, homelessness and expanding access to mental health treatment.