My parents—a hotel maid and a gardener—taught me that if you truly care about something, then you should leave it better than you found it. Little did I know this would be the perfect recipe for a career in public service. I am San Diego’s first Puerto Rican-Native American-Filipino-Dutch-LGBT mayor. I truly care about our city and the people in it, and so now I work every day to make our city a better place.
In San Diego, it is important for people to know that Latinx communities make up approximately 30% of the population here—and are growing. Furthermore, San Diego’s proximity to Mexico, along with its extensive Spanish roots and history, shapes our daily life. Latinx communities are part of the beautiful fabric of our city—everything from food, to architecture, to our economy, to the arts—and are a critical piece of who we are.
It’s important that we intentionally take time to recognize and celebrate the contributions, achievements, and history of our Latinx community.
This is particularly true for San Diego, given that we have a large Latinx population who call our city home, and the influences of Latinx culture are embedded throughout our communities. I recently proclaimed September 15 to October 15 to be Hispanic Heritage Month in the City of San Diego. This objective demonstrates my commitment on behalf of the City of San Diego to take this time to honor the cultural richness of our Latinx Communities—those from Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. I want to ensure that the City of San Diego highlights the profound impact that the Latinx community has made to shape our city every day.
The gun violence epidemic has torn apart countless families and has only intensified this past year.
Nationwide, homicides increased nearly 30% in 2020—the largest single-year spike on record. With the onset of COVID, California also suffered a massive increase in homicides that has continued into 2021. We’re seeing similar trends in San Diego. Violent crime is up 14% in the first half of the year, and shootings are up 63%, compared to 2020. We’ve already passed the number of ghost guns recovered in 2020 and are well on our way to recovering double that amount in 2021.
We need more than thoughts and prayers to address gun violence—we need action.
As elected leaders, we need to do everything we can to make sure our communities, schools, and homes are safe for everyone.
Much of the gun violence we’re seeing disproportionately impacts communities of color and has its roots in systemic racism, trauma, and divestment. We also know from data that a very small number of individuals drive the majority of serious violence and intervening with this high-risk population is one of the keys to reducing violence.
It is our collective responsibility to keep our friends and neighbors safe.
Earlier this year, I joined 17 other mayors from across California to ask Governor Newsom to increase funding for the CalVIP program because we need a comprehensive approach to send resources directly to cities and community-based organizations to implement public health-informed strategies for reducing violence.
San Diego is lucky to have existing CalVIP grantees doing the work of reducing gun violence in high-risk populations. But we need more resources and more coordination to end the gun violence epidemic. Public safety is a responsibility of more than just our police department; it is our collective responsibility to keep our friends and neighbors safe.
The City of San Diego’s approach to reducing gun violence is to engage community-based organizations, law enforcement, and local government to implement public health-informed strategies for reducing gun violence. We also put on community events such as gun buybacks to get guns off the street.
I will never forget the young people who are making it their mission to end gun violence in their schools, communities, and cities. They inspire me every day to do my part in ending this epidemic.
