Sean Elo-Rivera is a San Diego Councilmember. He represents District 9, which included the neighborhoods of City Heights, College Area, Stockton, Talmadge, Normal Heights and more.
San Diego has natural beauty, unbeatable weather, and a thriving economy — so why do so many of our workers live in poverty, and why is our city so underfunded?
San Diego is desirable in many ways, but a great city isn’t defined by its place on travel lists. It’s defined by whether the people who live and work there can build stable, dignified lives. It’s about whether a city delivers for its residents.
It’s time to make San Diego work for San Diegans.
Recently, my wife and I were walking our son and dog along the bay on a perfect San Diego afternoon — bright sky, sparkling water and kites flying. It was the kind of day that makes a tourist say, “I wish I lived here.” The irony hit hard.
For too long, San Diego has worked better for out-of-town investors, large corporations and tourists than for the people who live here. Rather than using our booming economy to uplift San Diegans, we’ve allowed multinational corporations to extract wealth while workers struggle to pay rent. Instead of leveraging the value of our world-class public assets — our beaches, parks, and cultural centers — we’ve given them away for free and forced everyday San Diegans to pick up the tab.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
San Diego welcomed more than 32 million visitors last year. The tourism industry generated billions. The corporations that own many of our largest hotels and entertainment venues are not struggling.
Money comes here, but it doesn’t stay.
Much of the wealth generated in San Diego is extracted for corporate executives and shareholders who don’t live here. Meanwhile, the workers who keep this economy running are left with impossible choices: rent or groceries? Gas or childcare? Can they afford to stay in San Diego, or will they be forced out?
Now, after generations of insufficient revenue, we are in the midst of a budget season where basic city services are at risk. Mayor Gloria’s proposed budget includes cuts to libraries, parks and recreation centers — services vital to children, youth and seniors alike.
But let’s be clear: San Diego doesn’t have a budget problem. We have a fairness problem.
For too long, City Hall has been afraid to demand that those who take the most from San Diego contribute fairly. We’ve catered to tourists and investors instead of standing up for working families. It’s time for change.
Here’s where we start:
• Raise wages for tourism workers. A $25/hour minimum wage for hotel, janitorial and event workers would ensure that the people sustaining San Diego’s economy can afford to live here.
• Make Corporations Pay their Fair Share. Large corporations, for-profit events and professional sports franchises that rely on city-funded infrastructure, public safety and administrative work should pay to cover the cost of the services they benefit from—just like small businesses and residents do.
• Make non-residents contribute. San Diego is home to two of the four most-visited municipal parks in the country—Mission Bay Park and Balboa Park. Charging non-residents a modest parking fee at beaches, bays and parks would generate tens of millions annually for their maintenance and operation—while easing the burden on San Diegans. We should also amend our lease with the San Diego Zoo to create a revenue-share agreement for non-resident parking. This, too, could generate tens of millions for the city and provide the Zoo additional revenue to ensure their workers can afford to live in San Diego.
• Expect more from those who profit most. Our biggest companies should show their support for the city they profit in by sponsoring our libraries, parks and recreation centers. Many other cities benefit from corporate and philanthropic sponsorship. San Diegans deserve no less.
These simple steps would generate significant, ongoing revenue to protect library hours, keep our parks clean and safe, sustain recreation programs and ensure first responders have the resources they need.
Critics will claim asking more from wealthy corporations or expecting visitors to contribute will hurt our competitiveness as a tourist destination.
But I believe in San Diego enough to bet on San Diego.
We don’t need to beg for business or sell out our values to compete. We don’t need to give away public resources or underpay our workers to remain desirable. What we need is the confidence and courage to demand fairness.
The choices we make in the months ahead—about wages and the city budget—will shape the future of San Diego. Let’s stop bowing to corporate interests and acting as a low-cost playground for tourists. Instead, let’s build a city that puts San Diego’s working people first.
San Diegans deserve a city that works for them.
Then — and only then — can we call ourselves the greatest city in the world. Not just because of our beaches, weather or parks, but because of how we take care of the people who call San Diego home.
The City built its tax revenue based on growing development through the 1980s. The City neglected infrastructure maintenance for new construction because politicians do not get re-elected for maintenance. The City didn’t have enough capital to pay for court ordered, developer, and City Council pet projects so many projects were bonded. Paying for the bonds reduces general fund revenue and increases rates for the enterprise funds. Please study the past before blaming others for San Diego’s budget priorities.
Imagine walking on the beach, and your only thoughts are; “how can we confiscate more and more tax revenues”.
Imagine walking down the beach as a resident or tourist and thinking “where is the nearest restroom?” only to find them all locked because the city refused to make revenue by permitting yoga instructors.
Who exactly is extracting wealth in San Diego? Despite ‘budget cuts’ City Council expenditure alone increased from $21.3 million in FY 2024 to $23.3 million in FY 2026. Council staffing is at 160 positions, up from 149 in FY 2024. Total city expenditure increased 10% over the past two years.
Yes, the voters of The City of San Diego need to wake up, and stop mindlessly re-electing these incompetent manipulative gaslighters.
City Employee compensation is nearly 40% of the budget, and median pay at the City runs $26,000 per year higher than the private sector median. That’s where the budget problem lies. You don’t solve a spending problem with nickel and dime smokescreens; rather you need to beat on the elephant in the room.
This is hilarious! Elo-Rivera is a carpet bagger from Los Angeles that is gonna be gone to his next polical position as soon as he terms out. He’s such a hypocrite that plays on the rich vs poor narrative. He’s a snake oil salesman.
Elo- Rivera! Spoken like a true carpetbagger! Nickel and dime the locals to dime in the name of making tourists pay more…. San Diegans are sick and tired of the slicksters like you! Get off your bum and start getting large corps who are driving up rents and not contributing rather than tourists! Tax tax tax is all you have to offer? Do us a huge favor, step aside!!
I don’t know why this article generated so much hostility. These ideas sound like logical and fair steps to me. And I didn’t see any reference to us locals paying any kind of taxes of any sort. It’s because people don’t want to pay for things that the country’s infrastructure is falling into ruin. San Diego was in better physical shape 40 years ago. Why shouldn’t huge global corporations who do business here contribute a bit of their vast wealth to improve the city that contributes to that wealth? They can certainly afford it. And they probably write it off anyway. And why shouldn’t a person who works here be able to earn a living wage at one decent job so they could provide a home, food, etc. and a few extras now and then for their family? Surely the tourists who pay pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to visit for a week or so can pay a few extra dollars for parking here and there. And as for the taxes that people mentioned which don’t apply to this situation, taxes are the price we pay for civilization.
The City developed its tax revenue system based on development and re-development rather than other forms of stable sustained revenue. Adding parking fees may slightly increase revenue for Balboa Park for the benefit of the park. It won’t be significant. Adding additional hotel room taxes which are already paying off bonds and other expenses won’t help either. Increasing wages won’t help unless the City implements local taxes. The systemic revenue issues have existed for decades and politicians exacerbate the issue with their budget priorities. There is a reason why other local city infrastructure is maintained better than San Diego, and it has nothing to do with their demographics.
No, these ideas are the same ideas repeated by every other far left democrat in the country. He complains about private businesses making profits and then suggests that it is the government that needs to extract wealth from people not the businesses! It would be hilarious if it weren’t so infuriating. Never mind that it is individual real estate investors wrecking the housing market and not the corporations. When you bid on a condo or a house you are competing with other Indvidual’s that want to turn every property into a cash flow machine. Moreover, it is government policy driving landlords to drive up rents to offset terrible government mandates and policies to make up for profits that were essentially stolen by the government. The people of San DIego reap what they so when they elect people like this.
This is exactly why people should support unions. I work in the hotel industry and am a proud member of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union (H.E.R.E. Local 30). Our union negotiates good wages and benefits for hotel workers with the big hotel corporations, who would not pay as well otherwise. Even still, many people who work in San Diego County can’t afford to live close to where they work because of the high cost of housing, if it’s even available. So many rentals have now become Airbnb’s, or been remodeled so as to double or triple the rental prices, which make them unaffordable to working people.
Our union promotes the idea that ” one job should be enough” but sadly, most workers in San Diego are forced to work more than 40 hrs/week to get by, because wages here have not kept up with the increased cost of living. This needs to change if we expect our city to continue to be the gem that it is.
Imagine walking down the beach as a resident or tourist and thinking “where is the nearest restroom?” only to find them all locked because the city refused to make revenue by permitting yoga instructors.
Bravo! As a born and raised San Diegan, I fully agree and support all of what this article says! I often think that if the tourists that come here and love San Diego so much they want to live here, actually traveled into the city and various areas, they would be horrified at the homeless problem, the pot holed streets, the lack of sidewalks in neighborhoods, and the real cost of living here.
It’s not the hotels, large businesses, and corporations that come to San Diego that are causing the city’s financial and social problems. It is the mayor and our elected officials that keep wasting our tax dollars on unending homeless problems and their ridiculous pet projects. They’re doing things like taking out all the parking spaces and parking meters downtown so they can waste money on bike lanes that no one uses. Maybe they should stop building huge apartment complexes for the homeless and stop giving away millions of dollars to NGOs scamming off of the government in their phony efforts to fix the homeless problem. They’re only attracting more homeless people to San Diego. Downtown is disgusting, and soon, we’re going to have fewer tourists and businesses wanting to come here. All that’s going to happen is people are going to start realizing that San Diego is a filthy city that is way too expensive to vacation to. Of course, the city won’t have enough money, as result, and they’ll have to raise our taxes again and again and again.
Also, the government need to stay out of deciding what private businesses pay their employees. The only thing that’s going to happen is they’re going to have to lay people off if they raise the minimum wage.
How many times does this have to be proven before people figure it out?
These common sense proposals have been avoided for decades because San Diego has historically considered itself to be LA’s orphan stepchild. That antiquated notion has no relevance today and it’s time San Diego stood up for itself.
When you’re $250 million short and you think that cutting fire rings for a savings of $0.135 million ($135,000) will solve the problem, YOU are the problem.
Not all jobs are worthy of pay enough to raise a family. Many are great for a temp job or a student or a senior who needs a little extra. Once government gets involved the whole system gets out of whack. Look what they did to the fast-food industry. Now there are fewer jobs, and many places had to close because they couldn’t make a profit paying those wages. It effectively made the minimum wage across the state $20 an hour because those that work the low paying jobs were going to walk across the street to the fast-food place if you didn’t pay them the same. How are they going to police who pays for parking? Are they going to set up booths at the entrances and check drivers licenses? License plates? Or just charge us residents also because we can’t say no and it’s only a few bucks a day? The last event I went to the parking was $20 and it was 3 blocks away. The close parking was $40. Will they start charging the homeless who park along Mission Bay Dr? Excuse me, live along Mission Bay Dr.? The city figures if you have enough money to live here, you’ll pay for anything. They always have time for photo ops but no time for the common resident and no reasonable cure for their budget mess.
You voted to stop developers fees for all these overgrown ADU apartments in our beautiful San Diego neighborhoods. Now you complain about the corporations not putting in enough money to run this city. Corporations and developers are in your back pocket, not the welfare of our city. Shame on you.
I believe it is my duty and an honor to serve my fellow citizens at a time when we are in dire need of competent leadership.
I have always believed an election is an opportunity for our citizens to be exposed to new ideas and visions for the future. I believe that San Diego has been led by politicians that have sold themselves to campaign donors.
I have the solution to homelessness, raising real estate prices and City pensions.
I look forward to exchanging my ideas on these issues as part of the election process.
I am part of a growing movement to change our City Charter to emulate the San Diego Port district. I believe with your help we can change the City Charter to lease all of our land instead of giving it away to wealthy campaign donors. I believe that with SDAR leading our efforts we could bring down the cost of housing and restore balance to government interference in the real estate market.
I oppose all increases in taxes.
City Government must no longer expand by taxation. The key to a balance budget is the removal of government interference in the marketplace. I will close down all the useless publicly funded bureaucracies that impede free enterprise.
The reason we have uncontrolled growth and poor planning is our elected officials are slaves to their campaign donors.
I propose that instead of selling City owned land we lease.
A developer comes in with a project that needs rezoning, in exchange for allowing the project to go forward the developer must sell the land to city. The city will than lease backs the land to the developer to make the project work.
A long-term lease with the City allows development of many new ideas in land use. Fifty years later when the project is fully depreciated the land comes back to the City to be recycled for the future citizens of San Diego.
SANDAG is another level of unneeded bureaucracy. Local planning makes much better decisions than SANDAG. SANDAG is an excuse for more government employees to make San Diego a worst place to live.
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They have done nothing except provide politicians with