S1: It's time for Midday Edition on Kpbs. Today we are talking with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria as he answers your questions about the future of our city. I'm Jade Hindman. Here's to conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. As mayor , Gloria seeks a second term. We're asking about housing and homelessness.
S2: We can't undo decades of failure to build new homes in just a couple of years. But the trend line is headed in the right direction , and it is on us to maintain that trend line.
S1: Plus , we'll talk about the city's response to recent flooding and equity in infrastructure. That's ahead on Midday Edition. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is now headed to a November runoff for re-election to a second four year term mayor. Gloria was first elected in 2020. During that time , San Diego has struggled through a pandemic , growing homelessness and housing costs , and this year's devastating rainfall and floods. We've asked our readers and listeners what questions they have for the mayor , and those will be guiding our discussion today. Thank you to those of you who submitted a response. Mayor Todd Gloria joins us in studio now. Thank you so much for joining us.
S2: Thank you for having.
S1: Me , Jade. So glad to have you here. So first I want to start off with the storm response , that disastrous rainfall and flooding that struck San Diego in January. It really highlighted a lot of problems with our city's infrastructure. And you've taken a lot of heat for that.
S2: You know , San Diegans are used to and wildfires and earthquakes , but flooding is not something that we have experienced of this size and magnitude. It is a natural disaster , as evidenced by the president's federal declaration of disaster and recovery. As I said on day one is going to be measured in months and years , not days or weeks. And that is proven to be true. What you've seen from the city in terms of response is an ongoing commitment to get the job done , and whether that was the immediate cleanup on the day of the storm to continuing to today , to the ongoing provision of assistance to those who are impacted. Most recently in the standing up of a FEMA assistance center in the impacted area that's already provided $12 million in direct assistance to over 1200 San Diegans. And this is just the start. This has been two weeks of that operation. We have more work to be done. I'm in no way saying mission accomplished , and we have a lot of work to do. And I think this is important work because this was driven in part by climate change. And so that means that I suspect that we'll be dealing with this on a go forward basis. So there's a lot of lessons to be learned from this experience. And my intention is to make sure that we learn those lessons and do our very best to never repeat them.
S1: You know , some of the neighborhoods that flooded simply had storm drains that were never cleaned , creeks that were filled with debris before the first raindrop ever fell that day.
S2: Jay , what I'll tell you is that my administration has been singularly focused on trying to address disparities in our city and to systematically take them down. We have an Office of Race and Equity that I launched early in my administration , a climate equity fund that is funding projects in communities like the one we're describing. We have realigned our infrastructure policies to take equity into consideration. So whether it's our Parks master plan update , the first in 65 years , that does contemplate how we can address the disparities in our park programs to our infrastructure policy , where we use our limited dollars in considering the fact that in some communities we're talking about pothole repair and other parts of our city , we're talking about building a road for the first time in 100 plus years. There are historic disparities in our city. There's no question about it. And the policies my administration has advanced are intended to address that. But we can't undo 100 plus years of systemic , systemic racism and things that we're describing in this situation in just three years. But my commitment is to move the ball as far as I possibly can with the time that I'm given as mayor , to try and change that narrative and to really make real change. Today , I was with a group of San Diego leaders at the edge of San Diego and National City accepting state funding to address the fact that when freeways were built in these very same neighborhoods that we're talking about , they were done for a variety of reasons , not the least of which was environmental racism. And what we have now is state policy that actually sees that and is willing to fund changes to that. And my administration , along with the City of Nashville , City and Sandag , are in Sacramento successfully bringing dollars back to these communities. So I guess my point is the answer to your question is yes , but that is not lost on me or my administration. What we've been doing is driving an agenda of change to actually address that. But it will take time.
S1: Yeah , it takes time to address systemic issues like that. Policy issues like that. Right. Correct. Cleaning storm drains though.
S2: Well , so the storm drain issue , here's the challenge. This was a thousand year storm. And every engineer and city specialist I've talked to has said that there is no amount of drainage that we had in that community that would have prevented this from happening. That said , I'm hopeful in terms of going back to the lessons learned , that this is an opportunity for some of our state and federal regulators that makes it extremely difficult for cities like ours to clean our storm drains to make it easier for us. The storm drains are now clean. It's not because policy change. It's because I issued an executive order declaring an emergency that has allowed us to clean those on a on a temporary basis. That is not the status quo. If anything we should learn from this experience is that we should not consider storm drains to be sensitive environmental habitat. Instead , we see it as a necessary piece of. Infrastructure and not require us to take 5 or 6 years to get multiple regulatory approvals before we can clean the darn things. That's the state of play today , Jade. The city can only follow the rules that are imposed upon us. The fact that we're able to go around them right now is simply a matter of the emergency that we're currently in , but we should not go back to the way it was before. We should find a way to do this more expeditiously.
S1: All right. I want to move to housing. San Diego is one of the most expensive cities to live in. And Renton , you know , many of our listeners want to know about rent control in November , will vote on a statewide ballot measure that would expand city's ability to enact rent control. Is this something we could see in San Diego.
S2: Or as a state legislator to prevent excessive rent increases ? But even that is still not enough for many families who are being priced out of our community. And that's a major concern for me and for the city council. We have advanced , aggressive pro housing policies because even with whatever controls that people might want to put in place , the fact of the matter is we have not built enough housing for decades. When I was born here in San Diego in the late 1970s , we were building about 15,000 homes a year. Fast forward to today. In recent history , we've been doing about 5000 homes per year , but our city continues to grow. In that period of time , we went from about 700,000 people to north of 1.4 million people. When you have that amount of population growth with that little housing growth , it's exactly why we have excessive rents , unattainable housing , homeownership , and it's way too many people living unsheltered. The way to change this long term is to build more housing and jade , one thing I'm pleased to tell you , and we'll be making an announcement soon. You know , I told you 5000 is what we've been doing per year recently. Our preliminary numbers show that last year we permitted over 8000 new homes. And we think it may even be more than that. And we have to report those numbers to the state. My point is this. The policies that I'm advancing are working. They are increasing the amount of housing production in our city. But much like the previous question , we can't undo decades of failure to build new homes in just a couple of years. But the trend line is headed in the right direction , and it is on us to maintain that trend line until we can get a price point where prices are more reasonable , where we don't have excessive rent increases , and we're hardworking. Working in middle class San Diegans can afford to live here and see a future for themselves here.
S1: This next question is from our listener Tuan Dau from Carmel Mountain Branch. Take a listen.
S3: I like how you're trying to increase home production with the Housing Action Package 2.0 , but I feel we need to do a lot more.
S2: The answer is we are already doing that and we intend to do more. As was referenced in the question , there's a housing 2.0 reminder that there was a housing 1.0 , and I pretty sure as long as I'm mayor , there's going to continue to be 3.0 , 4.0. We're going to continue to push the envelope until we can get housing built and again , create a more functional housing economy. Later this week , we'll be unveiling blueprints which reduce some of what was just asked about , as well as community plan updates for the Hillcrest and University City parts of our city. That does envision up zoning , taking some underutilized commercial centers and making them more dense with homes that working in middle class folks can afford. So they answer that question is yes , but those two communities and that blueprint plan is still not enough. We're having to again undo decades of underinvestment in home production. And my focus , and I want to be really clear for your listeners , the goal is to make sure that working in middle class San Diegans can afford to live in the city. I am the son of a maid and a gardener who were able to buy a home in the city many , many , many years ago. I think we all know that today I made in a gardener is very unlikely to build a buy a home , let alone maintain the rent. Right ? That my objective is to make sure that stories like mine are not consigned to a past generation of San Diegans , but that current day San Diego's and future San Diegan can , if they're willing to work hard and play by the rules , find a place for them here. I want people to feel like they can belong here. And right now , I recognize our housing policies have not necessarily communicated that , but I'm working hard to change that.
S1: This next question is from listener Julia Nguyen.
S4: I'd like to know what you and the city are doing to ensure that there's more affordable housing in San Diego. By affordable , I mean accessible to lower wage earners families with incomes ranging from 35,000 to $65,000 annually.
S1: And you kind of just spoke to that. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. But , you know , I could see how she might feel like I'm not talking about her when discussing working in middle class San Diegans. Low income folks are also a concern. The unsheltered are also a concern. But the truth is , is we have had policies in place to address some of those folks for quite some time. Our city's inclusionary housing law says that for all of these projects that we're advancing , a minimum 10% of them have to be reserved for low income San Diegans. And so as a consequence , we have hundreds or thousands of low income units being produced , but we don't have any housing being built for middle income San Diego. So that's why my focus is there. But that said , we are going to continue to advance policies that build housing are really all types , the low income and extremely low income categories. Ways are somewhat addressed through inclusionary policies. The zoning that was asked in the previous question will also speak to that , and a program that I'm really proud of , Jane , is something that we call Bridge to Home. This is a program that I initiated as mayor , where the city is a direct investor in low income housing projects across the city. We have funded dozens of projects over the three years that I've been mayor , resulting in nearly 2000 homes for low and very low income San Diegans , including the formerly homeless. And so that's one way that we're trying to address the question that was just asked. But I recognize that more must be done and I intend to do more.
S1: You know , there is an effort in Sacramento challenging the power of the Coastal Commission. As Kpbs Metro reporter Andrew Bowen recently reported on. Do you agree with that effort ? I do.
S2: I do , and it goes back to the disparity question that we were talking about just a moment ago. All the pro housing policies that I'm advancing have 2.0 and all the rest of them , you know , apply almost immediately in the city's non coastal areas. And then we have to go to the California Coastal Commission and ask them to allow us to apply them in the coastal communities. That delay is years , years and years. And so I'm often asked is mayor , hey mayor , why is my community changing ? But these other ones are not. The answer is we're trying to and we're asking our state regulators to give us that ability. And they will eventually often say yes , but the time that it takes really does not match the urgency of the situation that so many San Diegans are feeling. The rent is due at the first of every month , right. And when you take years , that is just it is just a message to people that no matter how hard they're work , they're not wanted here. As mayor , I want them to hear I want them to be here , and I'm going to fight like hell to make sure that they have an opportunity to do that. And that's why the Coastal Commission does need to be a better partner when it comes to housing production. We can't just ask portions of our city to help solve this housing crisis. Every part of our city has to be a part of solving the housing crisis.
S1: Aside from housing , San Diegans pay some of the highest electricity rates in the nation. This question is from our listener , Luis Campana in University Heights.
S5:
S2: I , to be honest , it's a nascent effort. It's one that I haven't looked at closely. But generally speaking , I think municipal izing is something that is very far off in the future and does present significant challenges for the city. We are investing in that effort in the sense that when we developed a new franchise agreement with SDG E , we are setting aside some of the proceeds from that for an energy independence project so that we can study this question , that we can have affirmative and clear answers on what it would take to do this and that. A future mayor council can actually elect to do that if they find that it's feasible and it's in the best interest of the city. I think in the meantime , what I want to draw San Diegans attention to is , as the author of the city's Climate Action Plan , I helped to create a community choice energy program known as San Diego Community Power that is operating today at competitive rates , often lower than what SDG and provides. Injecting that competition into this space has been beneficial. The city of San Diego gets our energy from San Diego community power. We've chosen to get the 100% renewable option because we want to be leaders in the fight against climate action , and I think we'll continue on this particular path. But I would tell you that municipal ization is a multibillion dollar question for the city. And at a time when we're looking at housing affordability , a homelessness crisis , an infrastructure crisis , it's difficult to commit new dollars to a new enterprise when we really need to be focused on the areas where we have been falling short and want to do better.
S1: Coming up , our conversation with Mayor Todd Gloria continues with efforts to address homelessness.
S2: All of these things are difficult , but the alternative is unthinkable. We are too wealthy , a city , state and nation to have thousands of people living outdoors in unsanitary conditions.
S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman , joined today by San Diego City Mayor Todd Gloria. Mayor Gloria , moving on now from housing to homelessness. According to San Diego's latest regional count , the number of unsheltered people in the city grew about 32% between 22 and 23.
S2: We need to do more , and I've committed to doing more. But to answer your question , Jay , we have more than doubled the number of offerings for unsheltered San Diegans in the time that I've served as mayor. So that means an expansion in our shelter offerings , expansion of our safe parking lots , the creation of our safe sleeping sites , meaning to say that , you know , where we had about a thousand opportunities when I took over as mayor today. We have north of 2000 , and I've committed to doing another thousand this this particular year. This means that there are more options and opportunities to get people off the streets and into a better situation to triage their circumstances , address the underlying causes of their homelessness and get them into permanent housing. That goes back to all the housing policies I was describing a moment ago. Many of these people are ending up on the streets because they simply can't afford to live here. And when we pursue housing policies that increase the number of homes in our community , that is necessarily addressing our homelessness crisis as well. Beyond that , you know , we are continuing to advocate in Sacramento. You've seen the largest behavioral health reforms in the state 60 years , over the last 60 years , because of legislation that the city of San Diego is either sponsored or helped to advocate for. I'm thinking particularly of conservatorship reform for care court and for other interventions , because for a lot of folks , it's economics. But for some of these folks , they're dealing with severe mental illness and severe addiction issues. And right now , Jade , we're leaving way too many of those people on the sidewalk and choosing to ignore and not actually serve these folks. These policy changes that I've advocated for in Sacramento are not fully in place yet , but I'm hopeful that when they are that we'll see a marked improvement. But the bottom line is that we have to build more housing. We have to provide immediate services for those folks who are on the streets , and we have to address the underlying causes of their illness. And as I say , we're not mission accomplished yet. But I'm definitely proud of the fact that over the three years that I've been mayor , over 3600 people have gotten off the streets for good. That is a success story , but we know that we need to do so many more , because for every person we get off the streets , we get multiple more that end up on the streets. And until we invert that ratio , we're going to continue to have a crisis.
S1: As you mentioned , the city of San Diego passed an unsafe camping ban last year and open new safe sleeping sites in Golden Hill and Balboa Park.
S2: We started with schools and with parks. We're looking now to trying to do the enforcement around existing shelters , recognizing that when we ask communities to provide additional shelters to to welcome a shelter in their community , that's often jaded , very difficult conversation. And I think it's reasonable to say to the neighborhoods that are willing to accept a shelter or homeless service opportunity that they should have relief from encampments on their streets. So we are continuing the phased implementation of this program and again , offering people the opportunity to get off the streets before any sort of a citation or incarceration is even a possibility. I'm pleased to say that over six months of operation of this effort , we've had only six arrests. So some of those arrests were multiple the same person multiple times. And which is to say that this is not a necessarily the coercive effort that people criticized to be when the council was considering it. Instead , what it is is that it's it's creating the opportunity and the option to get off the streets. That's why the safe sleeping programs have been so successful , and why I've committed to increasing dramatically by up to 1000 additional beds this year in our system. Because for everyone who says , I want a bed , I want to get off the streets , I want the city to say , we have one right here for you. That continues to be a struggle. All of these things are difficult , but the alternative is unthinkable. We are too wealthy , a city , state and nation to have thousands of people living outdoors in unsanitary conditions. We know that it's unsafe , not just for the unsheltered individuals , but for the broader community. And as a result , we have to do more. My commitment , even in this difficult budget year , is to make sure that we continue to expand our offerings for our unsheltered population.
S1: I wanted to ask you this. You know , San Diego County recently published its Regional Equity Indicators report , which it discussed social inequities ranging from education to health outcomes , housing and homelessness. Unfortunately , the report stated that while LGBTQ youth have some of the highest rates of homelessness , San Diego County does not gather or report on those statistics.
S2: Many gains have been made for marriage and the ability to serve in the military. But when we're fighting out whether or not. Trans kids lives matter and whether or not , you know , you can even read books in the library about gay people. You understand the disparities are still present. As the first openly gay person elected mayor of San Diego. You understand why this is personal to me. Jade , when I was talking about that shelter expansion , it isn't just the number of shelter beds that we've increased , but it's also diversifying them to include a shelter that is specifically for LGBTQ youth. We again , want to make sure that there's places that folks can go. And if they don't feel comfortable in a general population shelter situation , then let's get them to someplace that is more culturally competent , is more willing to serve them effectively. So again , we get them off the streets for good. But Jade , you talked about data collection. And that is a real challenge. And that's why our Office of Race and Equity exists at the city. To ask those questions and to see where we're not collecting data , where we're missing , where we have blind spots , and how our policies are impacting every San Diegan. You know , I believe passionately that the city should serve all of its residents. And I recognize historically that has not always been the case. It starts with asking questions like the ones in the report you just mentioned , collecting the data , finding the disparities , and then trying to implement solutions to those disparities. Again , for the LGBTQ community , we still have a tremendous amount of work to do. I'm proud of the fact that I get to lead my hometown as an openly gay man , but that , again , is not mission accomplished. There are still many people who are vulnerable and we have to do better , and that's the goal. That's to do better.
S1: Another thing a lot of our listeners wanted to know about was infrastructure , in particular , what's being done to fix San Diego , San Diego streets. A recent report found 1 in 3 streets are in poor condition or worse. What's your plan to fix that ? Well , you.
S2: Didn't need that report to tell you that every one of your listeners knows this. They see it every single day. Jay , what we did is my first year in office was to fund an overall condition index of our city streets , take a full inventory of the condition of every one of our over 2000 miles of roads in the city of San Diego. This is the first time that this has been done in nearly a decade. So the lack of data. Going back to what I was just saying a moment ago , that lack of data is a huge problem for attacking this issue systematically and making the most of our of our limited resources. We now , just a few weeks ago , presented that data to the City Council , along with a pavement management plan that spells out how the city can effectively address our street problems over the next ten years. Now , the goal is to pay for it , and I have to be candid , the current city resources are not sufficient to address this particular issue. I have increased road repair funding every year that I've been mayor that's under despite the pandemic. It's just been despite inflation and other challenges that we face as a community and as a society. That's how big of a priority it is for me. A lot of additional homelessness services , a lot of additional housing and a lot additional road repair money. We spent about $150 million this year on road repair. It's a record high , but according to our pavement management plan , we need to be spending about double that if we want to see transformational change in our streets. So now that we have the data and now that we have an adopted plan , now we have to find a way to fund it. I believe I'll be coming back to you and talking to some more about that in the weeks and months ahead , because it's past time to address our roads , our stormwater infrastructure , our public facilities. San Diegans can look all around and they see the deficiencies that are that are creeping up because past leaders have not been willing to be honest with them about how enormous a problem this is. Think about the OB pier , which is currently shuttered , Lake Hodges Dam that's having to release hundreds of millions of gallons of water because it's not structurally sufficient. Sidewalks , streetlights , lamps that are at Little League fields that are not currently working. It's all around us , and it's time that we grapple with it and actually address it once and for all. My hope is I can do that this.
S1: Year and the last four years.
S2: We have condition assessments in place. And now we're tackling this work. Jade , it's extremely difficult. You know , I go to say for example , parks and generally the south of eight in San Diego and I see the conditions that are there and they're dramatically different from another part of our city. That's why my parks master plan was subtitled , you know , one park system , two different kinds of parks. Right. You know , we we know the disparity is there. But what I can tell you is that some of the worst conditions that I've seen as mayor in some of our city's parks , I know where the CIPs are. Some of that work is underway. We announced yesterday $16 million to do repairs at 19 separate parks across our city , funded through an equity lens , going back to our road conditions. You know , that's interesting because , you know , I think it's often been said that , you know , the roads in certain parts of the city are worse than there are elsewhere. What our condition index showed us is they're bad all over the place. And that even in communities like La Jolla that are extremely well resourced , their roads are 100 years old and as a consequence they look really bad. That's a point of connection though , right ? Because the roads in Barrio Logan in Southeast are all so bad. And that's what gives me hope that we can actually make progress. Because when you see something that citywide that San Diegans in every neighborhood can see for themselves , that this is not working , and we need to go a different way , that gives me hope that we can build together a majority that can actually tackle this issue once and for all.
S1: Our listeners also had a lot of questions about San Diego's bike lanes. They seem to be vastly underutilized , reducing parking and increasing traffic.
S2: You know , this is this is you know , there's half of folks that love it have folks that don't. And and I understand because this is a bit of transition. You know , Jay , when I see people mention that , I often would ask the question , if you dropped a freeway in the middle of nowhere and didn't connect it to anything , how many cars would be on that freeway ? Not many. Very many. Right. And that's kind of the situation. We're currently in the city as it's able to as we repair road , often is the case that we will install a bicycle facility , a pedestrian facility to make everyone's commute safer , no matter who you are on the road. That process is ongoing and so it can feel somewhat fragmented. But if you look at our bicycle master plan , if you look at our community plans , our city's general plan , our city's climate action plan , you will see what the vision is to have a connected network that gives San Diegans choices. And I , I want San Diegans to think about this right now. I don't feel like they have choices. And I think we all like choices , right ? I have different color suits and ties , but I like to have different choices every day when I get up. The fact of the matter is , when it comes to transportation , we have one choice essentially in this town , which is by car , and that is not sustainable economically. It's very expensive. Climate wise , obviously there's real issues for our changing climate. Because of that , we have to give people quality choices to get from A to B and allow them to choose how to do it. That's walking , biking , taking mass transit or driving their personal vehicle. That transition is rough , but the fact of the matter is our climate demands it , our infrastructure demands it. And I think increasingly San Diegans are going to demand this. But I would say do not judge us by a partially implemented plan. That plan is ongoing , and it's going to continue to move forward because it is necessary for our quality of life. And , you know , I understand , I get I get this a lot in the , in the , in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store.
S1: Oh , I'm sure , I'm sure. All right. Well , let's move on to some issues at the forefront of the November election. A major issue is the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza , as you know , after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel , you were very swift to support and acknowledge the local Jewish community here in San Diego. The death toll in Gaza since then has now surpassed 31,000 Palestinians.
S2: It is not just anti-Semitism as terrible as it is , there is a significant amount of Islamophobia. And as I said before , I want all San Diegans to feel safe. You know , obviously , the loss of life , whether it was the 1200 Israelis that were killed by Hamas back in October to the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza since then , all of that is is heartbreaking and it needs to come to an end. We need to find a way to get to peace and get get to a lack an ending of the conflict. I you know , I appreciate that the President Biden has been trying to convene the parties and to find a way to a ceasefire. And I think that we should be , as Americans , endeavoring to do that. But back to your question. You know , whether it's meeting with affected communities , trying to understand how we can best be supportive , and generally that's making sure that we're providing the support to their cultural institutions , allowing their free expression and the ability to protest and demonstrate and will continue to do that , because that's their right as as Americans and as residents of this , of this community. It's a it's a tragic and it's a heartbreaking situation. And I'm hopeful. Like every American , I believe that this hopefully can come to an end sooner rather than later. The release of hostages , the end of hostilities and the end of killing of innocent civilians.
S1: Yeah , really briefly , because I know we're short on time. The city of Lemon Grove passed a resolution calling for an immediate permanent cease fire. Could you see San Diego introducing and or passing a similar resolution in the future ? I mean.
S2: I think anything's possible. I think the fact is that the city council would have to take that up. But I think ultimately our focus has to be on the issues that we've discussed this morning around homelessness , around housing production , around public safety , and around infrastructure investment. And that's where our focus will be as we support the desire to see a cease fire in an end to hostilities in the Middle East.
S1: And I want to finish our conversation with this question.
S2: You know , reminder that I took over as mayor during the middle of the pandemic , before we had vaccines and before we had a path to knowing how much longer this would take , then we've entered this era of tremendous political polarization that has been very difficult , and then also dealing with price increases that have really challenged us from a fiscal perspective. I yearned for an opportunity to do this job under more normal circumstances. But I recognize being mayor of the eighth largest city in this country is a tough job. It's a hard job , but I've never been afraid of hard work. What I'll continue to do is to make sure that I fight for our cities. Working in middle class , I worry deeply about their ability to be successful in the city. I don't want to see my hometown become a. Place that is reserved for the very wealthy who can afford to live here , and the very trapped who are very poor , who are trapped here. And what we will continue to do is to lead with a focus on equity , recognizing that as the first mayor of color in the city , I recognize what the city has done historically to make people like me feel like they don't belong here , and to try my best to change that. And the priority and the focus is to build more housing that everyday people can afford , house our homeless because the crisis is unacceptable and unsustainable. Invest in our infrastructure because the roads need to get fixed and prioritize public safety. San Diego is one of the safest big cities in the country , and we must remain that way. Those are my priorities , and I will continue to do my very , very best to lead my hometown and to hopefully make San Diegans proud.
S1: I've been speaking with San Diego City Mayor Todd Gloria , thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Jane.
