Dear Neighbor,  

The transition from summer back to the school year is upon us. Backpacks have replaced beach bags and light summer reads are now dense textbooks.

At the City, this shift is marked, in part, by the end of our Parks After Dark program, which wrapped up this weekend after serving more than 30,000 community members in neighborhoods across San Diego. 

A partnership between the City, the County, Price Philanthropies and the San Diego Parks Foundation, Parks After Dark activated parks and recreation centers in City Heights, Linda Vista, Memorial, and Skyline Hills every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for eight weeks with free events this summer.

People enjoyed free food, music, arts and crafts, face painting, inflatable jumpers, obstacle courses, magic shows, instructor-led yoga and dance classes, climbing walls, game trucks and other activities. 

Parks After Dark is a chance for San Diegans to have some fun, but these events also do the important work of helping create safe spaces to play in local communities throughout the summer months, especially in the afternoon and evening hours. These community events are proven to deter crime while also helping build stronger community ties. 

As a kid growing up in Clairemont with two parents working long hours, I spent a lot of time at my local parks, rec centers and libraries. I know first-hand how important it is to have access to safe and engaging public spaces. Investing in programs like Parks After Dark not only enhances the well-being of our youth, but also helps foster stronger, more vibrant neighborhoods

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

City, County Leaders to State: More Funding for Mental Health Needed 

Leaders from California’s largest cities and counties joined me last week in asking Governor Gavin Newsom and the State Legislature to increase the proposed amount of bond funding in Assembly Bill 531: The Behavioral Health Bond Act of 2023. 

The increase would help provide housing and treatment to many more Californians with mental illness by increasing the bond by $1.5 billion, for a total of $6.2 billion. We’re also asking that those additional dollars be set aside specifically for cities and counties, recognizing that municipal governments are positioned to ensure funds get rapidly deployed for new housing and services for people desperately in need. 

Together, the City and County leaders behind the request serve over 16 million Californians. We share a commitment to do more to address untreated behavioral health issues affecting so many of our constituents, but we need more resources from the state than what is currently on the table.  

We appreciate Governor Newsom and State leaders’ collective effort in working on a thoughtful and comprehensive package of reforms to the Mental Health Services Act and their proposal for a new Behavioral Health Infrastructure Bond. 

However, we need to deploy resources in an amount that matches the seriousness of the behavioral health crisis in our state.

Status Update: Sexy Streets Initiative  

When I was a city councilmember, I coined the term “sexy streets” as a counter to the notion that road repair isn’t “exciting.” Call me a nerd, but I think smoothly paved streets are pretty alluring! 

I launched my "Sexy Streets" initiative in 2021 with the aim of improving more than 50 miles of some of the busiest and longest-neglected roads across the city. Two years after City Council approved the roughly $40 million Sexy Streets initiative, I’m happy to report that much of the work is nearly halfway done and on track to be wrapped up well before the end of fiscal year 2024.

Some examples of completed “Sexy Streets” across San Diego include: 

• Otay Center Drive between Otay Center Court and Siempre Viva Road in Otay Mesa 
• Much of La Jolla Parkway 
• Lloyd Street from Lloyd Terrace to Baker Street in Clairemont  
• Much of Boundary Street in North Park  
• Broadway from 60th to 63rd in Encanto  
• Paseo del Verano Norte from Pomerado Road to Camino Murillo in Rancho Bernardo 
• Jade Coast Drive from Camino Ruiz to Westonhill Drive in Mira Mesa  
• Genesee Avenue from Linda Vista Road to Whitney Street in Linda Vista 
• Orange Avenue from Altadena Avenue to 51Street and Fairmount Avenue to Central Avenue in City Heights  

If you have potholes or roads in your neighborhood that need repair, report it using the City’s Get it Done app. 

Feds Award $12.8 Million to Assist San Diego NGOs in Helping Migrants 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded our region $12.8 million through its Shelter and Services Program to help our local nonprofit service providers aid migrants.

This critical funding will allow Catholic Charities of San Diego and Jewish Family Service of San Diego to continue providing lifesaving resources to migrants in San Diego before traveling onward to their final destinations within the United States.

I wrote DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in July to ask the department to expand the funding cap on both hotels/motels and airfare to accurately reflect the landscape for border communities.

The original funding plan favored interstate busing via privately chartered buses over other available travel, but in the San Diego region, airline travel has proved to be the most efficient and dignified way of assisting asylum seekers in traveling to their destination, which is most often a significant distance away in Texas, Florida, New Jersey or New York. 

Honoring Labor Leader, Fahari Jeffers 

I stopped by the new Fahari L. Jeffers Elementary School to talk about the legacy of Fahari Jeffers, who, along with her husband Ken Seaton-Msemaji, was an important part of the labor movement in San Diego in the early 1970s. I also talked about the importance of getting a good education and had the chance to speak directly with teachers, parents, students and community leaders. 

Congratulating Our Future Public Servants  

I was honored to join Councilmember Kent Lee and other community and business leaders to help congratulate and present certificates of recognition to the students who are part of the Alliance of Chinese Americans (ACA) civic engagement internship programs. ACA provides students with opportunities in civic engagement, such as internships with local government offices, independent projects for community services and more. The goal of the program is one I stand firmly and proudly behind: To inspire civic engagement and foster future leaders. 

New Off-Leash Opportunity for Dogs in University Heights!  

I joined Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, Parks and Recreation Director Andy Field, San Diego School District Superintendent Dr. Lamont Jackson and other community leaders to celebrate the opening of a new off-leash dog park for University Heights. The University Heights community has long advocated for this park, since neither Birney Elementary Joint Use Field nor Old Trolley Barn Park allows dogs off-leash. This City-funded interim dog park on the school district headquarters lawn will remain in place until the school district vacates the site permanently to move to Kearny Mesa.