The San Diego City Council on Tuesday voted to establish a new committee focused on lowering the city's high cost of living.
A study last year by U.S. News and World Report ranked San Diego the most expensive city in the country, mainly due to high housing and transportation costs. San Diegans also pay among the highest electricity prices nationwide.
"It is the thing that most threatens the future of our city," said Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who will chair the Select Committee on Addressing Cost of Living. "More and more San Diegans, from college students at SDSU to seniors, are legitimately wondering whether or not they have a future here. We can't be okay with that."
Elo-Rivera recently stepped down as council president after serving three years in the role. He has been a vocal advocate of the council setting its own policy agenda, rather than simply taking its cues from the mayor's office.
Elo-Rivera said the council's 10 permanent committees, which handle topics including public safety, housing and infrastructure, are often overwhelmed with the day-to-day work of reviewing contracts and policies put forward by the mayor and city staffers. The special cost of living committee, in contrast, will only take up proposals from the committee's three members: Elo-Rivera, Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Councilmember Henry Foster III.
One of the first proposals the committee will discuss is a ban on grocery stores offering digital-only coupons, which Elo-Rivera said are inaccessible to many seniors, non-native English speakers and people without smartphones. Stores would be required to also offer paper versions of any digital coupons.
Elo-Rivera and Von Wilpert announced the proposal in October and are currently working with the City Attorney's Office to draft the ordinance.
"We know folks are paying $5, $10, sometimes $20 more at the grocery store than they think they're going to pay, because they either aren't able to access the app that the coupon is available through (or) they think they've secured the deal that the grocery store is presenting to them but it hasn't actually been applied," Elo-Rivera said. "These things add up."
