With less than a year to go until the primary for City Council District 6, some pretty big question marks are still hanging over the race.
The district is currently represented, for example, by the only Republican member of the City Council, Chris Cate. But the candidate Cate hoped would replace him has dropped out of the race. Will another Republican jump in?
That’s not the only major uncertainty at play, as Scott Lewis lays out in a new story.
Redistricting could mean the district will ultimately look much different than it does now, raising the question of whether the candidates currently running will even be living in District 6 when the new lines are drawn.
“Clairemont, for example, is mostly in District 6, but a key part of the neighborhood along Morena Boulevard is part of District 2. And Rancho Peñasquitos is part of the district, but also not part of the district,” Lewis writes. “Both neighborhoods could push for unification. It’s all very complicated and will not be resolved until the end of 2021.”
In the last round of redistricting, advocates pushed to make District 6 an Asian-empowerment district. And it worked: Cate became the first Asian-American member of the Council in decades.
History: Tom Hom was the first Asian American elected to the San Diego City Council in 1963. He was also the first non-White person elected to the Council as well. Cate, elected in 2012, was the next Asian-American elected, though Mayor Todd Gloria, who reached the City Council in 2008, describes himself as part Filipino.
All California Politics Is Housing Politics
From recovering from the foreclosure crisis to the rise of the YIMBY movement to worsening homelessness and the housing shortage, housing issues have dominated state politics for the last decade.
In a special bonus episode of the VOSD Podcast, Andrew Keatts interviews journalist Josh Stephens about this book, “The Urban Mystique,” the housing trends they’ve both observed over the last decade and how political parties have adapted to the new demand and circumstances.
Meanwhile … Monday marked the kickoff of a new effort to encourage chronically homeless residents to take advantage of shelter offerings. The Union-Tribune’s Gary Warth asked one outreach worker tasked with connecting with homeless residents downtown how many of their clients had received housing. “If I’m going to be completely honest, I want to say about four,” the outreach worker told him.
Gubernatorial candidate John Cox unveiled his plan to address the homelessness crisis Monday, and it hinges on requiring people living on the street to seek treatment for addiction or mental health issues before providing housing, as well as ramping up police crackdowns on the homeless. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer describes his approach, which he recently described as “right to shelter, obligation to use it.”
In Other News
- In the latest Environment Report, MacKenzie Elmer runs through several ongoing disputes about a loss of parking and details efforts to make getting to the beach easier for people who don’t live near it.
- inewsource identified three San Diego County cases in which someone died from COVID-19 after being vaccinated. “The cases are unusual and extremely rare,” writes Mary Plummer.
- Officials from both sides of the border signed an MOU to open a new port of entry in Otay Mesa by the end of 2024. (City News Service)
- Airbnb detailed efforts it says it’s taken to crack down on rentals being used to host parties in San Diego. (10 News)
The Morning Report was written by Sara Libby, and edited by Scott Lewis.