The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board interviewed all seven of the candidates in the San Diego City Council District 9 race ahead of the March 3, 2020, primary election in which the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff election in November. Below is the transcript of our Nov. 14, 2019, interview with Sean Elo, who is running to succeed Georgette Gómez in a district that represents City Heights, College Area, El Cerrito, Kensington, Mountain View, Mt. Hope, Rolando, Southcrest and Talmadge. This interview was transcribed using the digital transcription service Temi and checked for accuracy by a staffer. To call any errors to our attention or to ask any questions about our interviews, please email matthew.hall@sduniontribune.com with the subject line “election interviews.”
Union-Tribune: Thanks for joining us today. Tell us why you decided to run for city council.
Sean Elo: First, thanks for having me. It’s a little surreal actually to be sitting here right now. If in early September you were to ask me like would you be interviewing at the U-T for an endorsement for city council, I would have like, it would have been no sense. Um, so I’ll just say that, you know, in the beginning of September I was two months away from getting married. I got married two weeks ago, on Saturday. And my mind was on that and on work. I run an organization called Youth Will that I love. I work with young people to create change in the community and I was really, um, that, the college board and everything was great. Um, and then obviously, um, [Rep.] Susan Davis makes her announcement [to retire] and the dominoes start falling.
And when I was reached out to, um, my initial response was just kind of surprise. And then starting to think about the position that the city’s in, um, the moment that we’re about to arrive at, um, with a new mayor, um, and with five new council members, um, and with some real crisis in front of us, right, particularly with housing and homelessness. And, um, district nine is the first place in San Diego, not just in San Diego, but, um, specifically in San Diego, um, where I really felt at home and um, I’ll just talk to you a little bit about my connection to the district. Um, I was introduced to district nine and City Heights in particular in 2012 as a legal intern. Um, I was at Cal Western and I was, um, part of the City Heights Community Law Project and I went to Hoover High School for one of our free legal clinics. And, um, I saw in City Heights, my family.
“I come from a multi-ethnic multi-religious background ... and I know how hard it is and how beautiful it is when it works.”
— Sean Elo
Um, I come from a multi-ethnic multi-religious background and um, with folks from Latin America and the Middle East and Europe. And I have Muslim folks in my family and my dad is Jewish and my mom is Catholic, and, um, it’s the first place I’ve ever been where I saw all of that happening all at once. And I know how hard it is and how beautiful it is when it works. And so the connection to the district, um, it’s really important to me. And I also had a chance to see, um, you know.... There’s a thing about a free legal clinic. Um, people show up with their problems. And so you get to really get a sense of what’s going on in the community. And sadly, in the seven plus years since I first walked through those clinic’s doors, um, a lot of the same issues, not only they not gotten better, they’ve gotten worse. If you were to ask me in 2012 with the biggest crisis was in that neighborhood, it would be housing. Um, that’s only gotten worse. Uh, the fears around gentrification and displacement, um, are very real and anxiety inducing for the folks in the neighborhood. Um, and so in being encouraged to run and approached with the possibility, um, to represent a community that I love, um, at a time of real importance, um, it seemed like the right thing to do and like an important thing to do. I’ll also just quickly note that, you know, um, I took some time to figure out who else might be running, right. I don’t need to serve. I’ve got this fantastic job. Like I said, I’m starting a marriage, and I have this awesome opportunity on the community college board to, um, serve with good folks who are working at a great institution. But, um, you know, we need to make sure the district is represented by someone who’s up to the task. And so it, it seemed like an important race to get into. And um, that’s why I’m running.
Meet the other candidates in this race below:
The candidates our editorial board interviewed for San Diego City Council District 9 are Kelvin Barrios, Sam Bedwell, Johnny Lee Dang, Sean Elo, Andrew Gade, Ross Naismith and Alex Soto.
Q: Who was it that approached you and thought that it might be a good idea?
A: Um, so the first person to reach out, and there were some friends obviously who shot text messages and I actually laughed that off. But, um, [outgoing Council President] Georgette Gómez did reach out to me and sit down with me and encouraged me to run.
Q: Has she endorsed in the race?
A: She has not., and I don’t think she’ll endorse me in the race, but she did encourage me to run.
Q: Why? What did she say or what did you see in you or why did that outreach happen?
A: My understanding is that she talked to other leaders in the community and um, and other folks who she respects. Uh, I’m not gonna speak for council member Gómez. Um, but we had a good conversation and she encouraged me to run.
Q: What do you think of the job she’s done?
A: Um, I think overall she’s done pretty well. I think that she’s obviously done a good job of consolidating support among her colleagues, which is an important part of being a council member. Um, we don’t work in a vacuum, right? So establishing relationships, maintaining those relationships and the trust with your colleagues, that seems to be something that, um, she’s often applauded for by her colleagues. I do appreciate that. Whether it’s someone from the business community or folks who are more moderate and sometimes even conservative, they appreciate her straightforward approach to things. Um, I think that those are things to really be applauded for right now at a time where things are pretty divisive and um, we see party label being enough to, you know, not show up to the same table, right? And that certainly seems like something that, um, council member Gómez has been able to, um, to overcome and actually even thrive in that environment.
Q: Before we talk about your decision to run, let me ask you about the decision to leave the community college district board. Much of the campaign where you unseated a pretty well known Democrat, David Alvarez, for those listening on tape, was how David was basically parking himself for a couple of years before moving onto the supervisors. Now obviously no one knew as you said, that Susan [Davis] was going to step down, and Georgette, and all the dominoes were going to happen. But what about leaving them kind of in the lurch? You know, they were like, “Oh, well, maybe we just have a person for two years. Oh, phew, we’ve got Sean Elo for four.” And now all of a sudden that’s not, might not be the case.
A: Yeah, totally fair. Um, so one, I will say that, um, as a campaign issue, we did not make that a thing. Um, David said he was running and he wanted to serve and I, you know, took him at his word. I also felt compelled to run. Um, so the initial encouragement to run came on Thursday night. It was fairly late. Friday morning among the first calls I made were to, um, Constance Carroll, our chancellor, to Maria Nieto Senour, the president of the community college board and also just touched base with the president of the teacher union, right? I just wanted to say, you know, how do you all feel about this? And if my council colleagues for one moment would’ve said, you know, what are you doing? Um, I would’ve, uh, immediately backed up. I also checked in with the young people who helped me run my campaign. The folks who did the most work to help me win, I did not want them to feel like I was, you know, stepping on their backs to climb the political ladder. Uh, they were all very, very encouraging. And I’m, I’m really proud that all four of my colleagues on the community college board endorsed me on day one. They know the situation that the city’s in and the moment that we’re in and, um, you know, I joke and say, I hope it’s not because they are tired of serving with me already. I don’t think that’s what it is. I think that, um, they think that I’d be a good person on the council and do a good job there. And so I think it’s a completely fair question to ask, obviously. Um, I just got there. And I also think that, um, given the moment that the city is in, the opportunity, and the impact the city has on the community college students, um, it is a way to have a broader impact on San Diego as a whole, and our, our students, our faculty, our staff.
Q: So for the council, when you talk to folks in the district, what do they see as the big issue? As you said, many of the problems are the same, if not worse, than they were seven years ago. When you talk to people, what do they say are the biggest priorities?
A: Again, housing is number one, right? So whether it’s homelessness, which is more and more prevalent in the community, right? And raises all sorts of concerns about safety and simply like from a humanitarian perspective, right? Like not wanting to see our fellow San Diegans sleeping in parks and in canyons, um, but also that fear of displacement, right? So on Sunday we did our kickoff canvas and there was a community leader there. She’s lived in City Heights for 35 years, and she talked about how scared she is that she’s no longer going to be able to afford to live in this community. And she’s someone who does work in the community literally every day, and has worked to improve it. And, and so that is real, it’s a palpable fear, um, and it’s something that we’ve just got to like, you know, really prioritize. Um, obviously public safety, um, is always a concern, um, for I think every neighborhood. But that means multiple things and different things for different people, right? Um, it’s the overall idea of feeling safe. And so, um, for some folks that might mean making sure that, um, you know, we have a police force that is, um, properly and fully staffed and able, and supported, and that they’re not being tasked with, you know, everything under the sun from being mental health counselors to, you know, to enforcing the law. Uh, but it also means feeling safe when police are in your community. Um, it means having enough streetlights to be able to, you know, walk down the street and see where you’re going. Um, so that safety issue is also very prevalent. Um, the cleanliness and health of our environment is super important in district nine. Um, so I live in what is essentially an alley and I’m backed by a canyon, um, and you know, from trash pickup to the condition of the street, um, I think it’s emblematic of a lot of what happens in district nine and it’s a concern for us, right? It’s a concern. Um, in terms of the cleanliness idea. As I’m newly married, and we think about starting a family, the idea of our future children playing in that area is not one that we, you know, it’s not appealing to us. And, um, that’s a problem. It’s a problem that, uh, the, the family next door as they have their kids, they’re looking for a way to clean our neighborhood as well. And that is to me directly related with, you know, the climate crisis, which, um, folks in the district recognize, right? We are at a moment of crisis. We have to address that. Um, these are all interrelated but um, mobility and transportation, really, really big issue. And district nine folks, um, use the public transportation system, um, and also like to have active transportation options as well. And that’s super important to them. And then the last is economic and educational opportunity. I know that, um, the city of San Diego and council members are not often, um, that education is not often included in terms of what the things that we can impact but we can support schools better. And, uh, education does not happen in a vacuum. The issues that impact students when they leave campus impacts their learning. And so we can definitely do more to work more closely with San Diego Unified to, um, strengthen the already pretty strong relationship with San Diego community college district to ensure that educational opportunities are abundant for the folks in the district. And then once that education and training happens that there’s great economic opportunity by way of good-paying jobs and um, and, and job security.
Q: You speak of gentrification. Um, obviously it’s a double-edged sword for sure. You want the area to improve, you want property values to go up, you want investment be made there. And yet it endangers the communities affordability for the people who are already there. I’ve seen a lot of improvements made in City Heights, for example. Uh, so how do you straddle that razor’s edge that you continue having these improvements made without endangering the people that are already here?
A: Yeah. The first is acknowledging that it’s not either/or, right? That is not the solution to gentrification, right? It’s not stopping all development, but it’s doing that with community in mind, with community at the table, to ensure that what we are building is done in a way that does not displace people. Um, and does not dismiss the idea that folks are attached to their neighborhoods, that they have an identity, um, um, from growing up in a certain place and helping improve it. Those improvements that you’ve seen are the byproduct of so much work in the community. Obviously the development has helped. But um, I can tell you from my last job at Mid-City CAN, and the work that I do in the community, there are activists, hundreds and hundreds of activists and organizers and leaders in the community who work so hard to make City Heights a safer, healthier, more productive community. And so it’s recognizing the contributions that they make and bringing them to the table, right? Um, it’s ensuring that when we do develop that there’s some space in the development for the current folks who are living in the neighborhood, right? So again, I guess the short answer to your question is, step one, we acknowledge that it’s not either/or. And then, two, is we work to thread the needle. These are complicated, complex issues, but I think we can get it done if we’re thoughtful, if we’re strategic and we’re thinking long-term, and if we’ve got community at the table with us.
Q: On housing, 15 years ago, the Public Policy Institute of California put out a report that said subsidized affordable housing is not an answer to the housing crisis. It only is a lottery that helps a handful of people. And yet year after year after year, the primary response of Democrats in Sacramento and in San Diego has been, we need more affordable, subsidized housing that amount to the lotteries that help a tiny handful of people. [Then-Gov.]Jerry Brown said four years ago the only way out of this crisis is to add housing stock. And yet Georgette Gómez and [State Senate Pro Tempore] Toni Atkins and other San Diego Democrats don’t focus on making housing stock broadly more available. They focus on subsidized affordable housing. How can we ever solve this problem if we keep doing something that doesn’t work and double down or triple down on it, like with the $900 million bond proposed for next year?
A: Yeah. Um, so I think we need more housing of all types, right? So, um, in 2016, I worked with a friend, and this is when the need for just straight up more housing really, really became apparent to me. I worked with a friend on a project to find housing for homeless or soon-to-be homeless veterans with a voucher in hand. And I thought, okay, all we gotta do is just go knock on doors, right? We’ve got a veteran, they got the voucher in hand, they can pay. As simple as that. And what we’ve found is there’s just not enough housing, right? And so we have to build more. And so I acknowledge that we need to build more of all types of housing and, um, trickle-down housing is not the solution. I think that the data also proves that, um, and when we’re in a moment of crisis and we need housing now, the idea that if we just build enough luxury units, eventually the affordable units will find their way down to the folks who need them, uh, I don’t see that that is a solution either. So I think you’ll find throughout this conversation, uh, throughout my campaign and then if I were to be elected that I really do try to approach conversations with the level of nuance, I try to hear the different sides, uh, the multiple sides. It’s rarely just two, right? And to thread the needle to the best place possible and think long-term and doing that. So, um, I will also acknowledge as a proud Democrat that if we don’t get housing right, that is the way to turn this very, very deeply blue state red. Because if we can’t keep a roof over the head of our residents, um, then we probably don’t deserve to be in power anymore, right? And, uh, so it’s a, it’s a full blown crisis to me. It needs to be approached with that level of energy, that level of commitment. Um, that means keeping everyone at the table, the builders included, and figuring out what we need to do to build enough housing to house our folks at an affordable level.
Q: The McKinsey think tank has for decades basically put out study after study that says, why don’t governments follow the best practices. Why are best practices revered in the private sector, but not in the public sector? Okay, let’s look at housing. In Tokyo, they have dorm-style buildings where young professionals share kitchens and bathrooms, and it’s no big deal and it’s much cheaper than the norm. In the United Kingdom and in Japan, they have an emphasis on prefab housing, which is way cheaper and stronger than it used to be. Why don’t we have dormitory style housing? Why don’t we have prefab units that we drop in backyards for ADUs? So Faulconer gets credit for being bold for saying, okay, no more parking associated with housing. When are we going to be bold about these other things and start using things that have worked in other nations. It’s just flabbergasting to me that we don’t have best practices on housing when everybody acknowledges it’s a huge crisis. What’s your take? Do you think that we should just drop prefabs in the backyard and we’ll call them the ADUs and use different proposals, provide incentives, to create dormitory style housing?
A: There’s been few things that have frustrated me more than the kind of provincial thinking of San Diego where if we bring an idea from another place to leaders and we say, “Hey, this works somewhere else,” and the response is, “But we’re not X,” and feel like they’ve won the argument by simply saying that, that makes me nuts. Right? So you have a partner in looking for ideas elsewhere and trying to bring them here. Um, again, this is a humanitarian crisis. If we believe that everyone deserves to have a roof over their head, a decent home, then we should be bringing every idea that we can to the table and taking that which is most effective, and putting them forward. The idea of more dorm style housing? To me, I have no initial negative negative response to that. Um, makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways to me. But at a minimum, we certainly need to be bringing those ideas to the table and we can no longer afford to say, we’re not London, we’re not Tokyo, we’re not L.A., we’re not Seattle or any of these other places and feel like the argument is over at that point. Um, we need to grow up as a city. This is the eighth biggest city in the country, right? With the potential to be a truly world-class city, not just by name, because it’s a catchy logo to attract tourists, because of the incredible resources that this community has, because of its, uh, adjacent nature to the border. But we have to start seeing ourselves that way. Otherwise, you know, we’ll never get there. And housing is a great example of where we should be looking abroad to bring those ideas here, and implementing them.
Q: Tell us about your background. When you were in college, you mentioned your stint at Cal Western, you were living in your car. So tell us a little about that in terms of what you learned from it.
A: Yes, so my first semester at Cal Western was in early November. I found myself kind of at the end of a relationship and, um, in a situation where the only real option in terms of a place... Well, I learned a lot about pride. I’ll initiate the conversation with that. Um, in my mind at that moment, my only option was my car. Um, so I spent about four out of the last five weeks of the semester living in an SUV in San Diego. It was hard. It was exhausting. Um, there were moments where I felt really proud of my ability to continue with school and perform well in the classroom. And then, uh, there was a night where some people tried to steal my bike off my car while I was asleep. I got no sleep that night, and my sense of safety was completely gone. It was hard. It was really hard. And I also, honest to God, when I drove to school, I had found to me, what felt like a fairly safe neighborhood in Chula Vista where I was parking. Um, and I would see people sleeping on the streets, be really thankful that at least I had the car to lock the doors up and a roof over my head. Um, because there was a bunch of people in San Diego who didn’t have that. And so, it was humbling. It was hard, and it also provided me some perspective. I’ll also say, Matt, the next year I wrote a paper on homelessness and kind of shared my story in that paper. And it is so frustrating to me that the ideas that I was able to find as a decent law student in a paper were known best practices at that time, and we’ve made almost no progress in implementing those, um, in the seven years since. And we’re still talking about studying some of those things that were so abundantly clear as solutions in 2012, right? So that was the experience, and um, I think I’m better for it, although like I said, I also learned a lesson that I probably should have just reached out to some friends and asked if I could crash on the couch.
Q: With that experience then and seeing that San Diego’s homeless problem is still bad. The homeless population needs houses, roofs over their head. What would you do to fix it and why... I saw on your website that you use the phrase end homelessness. That’s always a pet peeve of mine. Tough to “end it.” We can maybe make dents in it or fix it for a population, veterans or students. But what are your ideas to remedy the homeless situation?
A: Well, there was a whole debate, right? About should we use that term? We will certainly never get there if we don’t make it a goal. And again, looking abroad, looking through around the world, there are some big cities who have almost no one without a home. And I think that we can do it if we actually committed to it. And I would actually be really interested to see if we asked the residents of San Diego we said this is the actual cost of ending homelessness, these are the actual steps that we need to do to ensure that no one is on the street, no one who doesn’t want to be on the street is on the street. I think we can do that. Okay. So I’ll just start with that. As an idea, I actually think it’s achievable if we put it out there. We have to build more housing, right? There needs to simply, quite simply, be more housing. I think protections for renters are important. You know, a lot of this is personal to me. So a few years back, my parents who had lived in Orange County could no longer afford the rent in Orange County. I had a studio in Golden Hill. A friend of mine was moving out of their apartment in City Heights. I moved in the apartment in City Heights. My parents moved in to the studio. It was super affordable. The same time they moved in, a property management company bought the property. Over the course of that year, rent doubled. It went from a very affordable place to completely being unaffordable, and a doubling in rent over the course of the year is a perfect recipe for a family to end up homeless. Fortunately, uh, there was my couch, uh, for a couple of weeks, and just through sheer luck, the apartment next to mine opened up so that they could move in. Um, so protecting rentors is important. We just had a state law that I think is going to make some important steps toward making that happen. We’re going to need to implement that though. It’s preserving affordable stock that exists now, right? So taking, I think, a little bit of money to help folks, uh, help a property that is currently affordable stay affordable. Um, yes, it is building some affordable housing even though there’s some opponents of that. It needs to be a 360-degree approach, ranging from providing support for the folks who are living a very traumatic life on the streets. I think that, um, mental illness is a thing that is certainly prevalent among our homeless community and, um, is indicative of the mental health crisis that our community is in. I also think that folks need to step back for a moment and ask themselves what impact living on the streets would have on their mental health. Just from a safety perspective to the things that you see and are scared of, it’s a good way to take a fairly healthy person and make them very unhealthy very quickly. And so the way that we’re supporting folks in those situations is super important as well.
Q: On homelessness, there’s a genuine sense that we need to do much more. But there’s also homelessness fatigue. We see it in our letters to the editor, people who just can’t believe what’s become of downtown. So the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year threw out a law from Boise, Idaho, that said you can’t sleep in public. They said that that’s not fair, you should be allowed to sleep anywhere if you can’t afford a home. The city of Los Angeles filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court calling for the city’s law to be restored. San Diego passed. Should San Diego have signed an amicus brief or do you agree with the court that it shouldn’t be illegal to sleep outdoors?
A: I just want to make sure I’m answering exactly. So what you’re asking is whether or not I agree that the city should not....
Q: Los Angeles filed an amicus brief saying yes, we should be able to arrest people who sleep outdoors. City of San Diego did not. Supreme court will take it up in a couple months.
A: I’d want to read the brief before I say whether or not I support the brief, right? But what I say in terms of principle and values is that if we do not have housing or a place to stay available for folks, um, which I think is the current law, right? Um, the idea of arresting someone for sleeping on the streets, I really struggle with that from a values perspective and I think that it is also over the longterm self-defeating for us as a community. You’re putting folks in a much worse position. The one way to make their condition and situation worse, you’ve probably done. Um, and so again, from a values perspective, if we’re going to be arresting folks for sleeping on the streets, we better have made sure that there are houses and beds available for them and that those are places that are actually available. It’s one thing to say, um, for a person in a relationship, yes, you can come to this facility, but you can’t come with your partner. It’s another [to tell] a person, someone who has a pet and that pet has been the only family that they’ve had during their time on the streets or the thing that’s made them feel safe during the worst period of their life, that they can’t bring that pet with them. That’s not a real option, right? And so, um, as you can see, I’m very passionate about this issue. Um, and to me it all starts with a value and whether or not we as San Diego want to say that it’s acceptable to criminalize not having a home.
Q: Mark Ridley-Thomas is a Los Angeles County supervisor who’s been outspoken on homelessness issues forever to the point that Gavin Newsom put him on the state’s homelessness commission when Gavin Newsom became governor. But in September, Mark Ridley-Thomas said he’d had enough, he got the county supervisors to go three to two to file an amicus brief. He said the people in my district no longer accept the norms of people being able to sleep wherever they want and that this is a problem that’s affecting the quality of life of the people in my district and I have to do this. So it’s kind of striking to see a guy who has been a leader in fighting homelessness basically say the downside of accepting the status quo of people sleeping everywhere is unacceptable. So anyway, to me, it gets to your point about how complicated this issue is, but I think it’s also telling, this is a guy who represents the poorest of the five districts in Los Angeles County and the poor people he represents, they’re not up for continuing to accommodate the level of homelessness and the way it affects their lives. I thought that was pretty remarkable.
A: It is. And you know, the last time I went to L.A., um, it’s bad. It’s really bad. And so I understand. Um, we had, uh, we had a gentleman who for a couple months, um, down the street from our place, um, right under a streetlight, he set up and made that home. It was uncomfortable for folks. And I get it. I understand that. I would imagine that the houses closest to that were super uncomfortable with it. Um, but this is where, you know, we as leaders need to have difficult conversations and say that the solution to that is not, um, incarcerating someone, but it’s to find them a proper place to sleep. I didn’t have a conversation with that gentleman, but I would imagine that if I would have asked them to find them a decent place to sleep at night, uh, that they would’ve chosen that or that streetlight, I imagine it would have been the former, not the latter. And um, yeah, it’s hard. It’s complicated. It is emotional for folks on the street. It’s emotional for the folks who, uh, live near near people who are living on the streets. It’s emotional for the business owners who feel their businesses being threatened by the crisis. I get all that and we need to, um, take big action. But we’ve got to lead with our values.
Q: The most common feedback from our letter writers is that San Diego has put out a welcome mat for the homeless. It’s just started snowing back East and up North. Uh, it’s going to be the worst winter in decades apparently. Uh, and their argument is why not go to San Diego or Los Angeles or somewhere in California where it’s nice and toasty warm most of the year? Um, is that a valid argument at all that, uh, by offering these kinds of services, we’re actually putting out a welcome mat for people all over the country, saying homeless people come here, we’ll take care of you.
A: I’ve been do a lot of reading on this, and so I thought I’d read something actually from the U-T, um, some research kind of acknowledging that that’s been disproven, um, that it’s not, um, this, this welcome mat or like the sunny skies of San Diego, um, that have folks here, um, you know, living on the streets. The reality is that yes, there are other people from other cities who are homeless. Yes. There’s people from other cities who are homed as well, right. So San Diego is a place that attracts folks from all over the country and some of those people will end up homeless. Um, I refuse to believe that our homelessness crisis in San Diego is a result of being too nice and too welcoming to people without homes.
Q: Some people say that the homelessness problem, one of the factors is mental illness. So, um, you’re probably aware of the conservator pilot program. Where do you stand on conservatorship?
A: So mental health is an issue that has impacted my family and I’ve seen what happens when someone, um, has to be taken care of as a result of their mental condition. Um, it’s really hard, and we also know that from decades past that that could can be pretty ugly. Right? I need to think more about that to be honest, before I would take a solid position on that particular issue. But I do know, I’ll go back to about mental health for homeless neighbors. Um, yes. Do some people end up on the street because of mental illness prior to being on the street? Yes, but I think that a lot of what we see is also the product of either living on the streets or symptoms and conditions that are exasperated because of living on the streets. Um, so I think there’s a lot more to it than, um, we just need to put these folks in, in a, in a mental home.
Q: Do you want to share some of your family’s story about that?
A: You know, um, I share a lot and I’m happy to. This one, I’m a little resistant because it’s not my story, um, and this one feels a little bit different in that way. What I can tell you is that I’ve been in that situation as a family where we feel like we need to call someone to take care of people we really love. Um, it’s hard. It’s really, really hard. And to, to see... Sorry. Um, I actually hadn’t thought about that in a little while. So, um, to see that all happen is a really hard thing. Um, and I know how traumatic it was for, um, my family members who went through that. Um, and when other family members were in similar situations with needing help, um, they were really torn because they’d been on the other side of the door. Um, but also knew, um, that it was probably the best thing for them so....
Q: I imagine how difficult that is. I appreciate you sharing.
Q: On transit, um, the Los Angeles times had stories in 2016 and 2017, and we had a story this the summer that says transit is less used than ever in most American cities. And yet we’re doubling down on transit with massive multibillion dollar proposals to build transit levels. It just seems to me there’s such a gap between what we’re doing and history that it’s hard to fathom. I know why we have to do it, we have to deal with climate change. I know why public officials do this. They want to create the perception that they’re addressing big problems. But if Californians, if Americans, don’t like transit, why do we presume that future results will be different than past results?
A: Um, well I think that depending on the neighborhood you’re in or the community that you’re talking to, the initial reaction to Californians and San Diegans don’t like transit might vary. I think that’s an important nuance to recognize. I’d also say that nobody likes bad transit, right? Who would? Um, no one likes knowing that the bus ride you’re taking is taking three to four times longer than it would take an a car. Um, because of the wait time, because of all the different reasons. And so I think that it’s a bit of an apples and oranges comparison to compare transit and, and, um, having a car right now in San Diego. I know from the community that I live in, that a world-class transit system would be something that they would very much welcome. I know that a lot of young people I know would love to be less reliant on a car. The idea of using a car for some things but not having to own one is super appealing. And I would also say that I think we’ve reached a time, um, with technology and innovation where we can figure out a smarter way to do this. And there’s some older folks in the community as well as some young people in the community, in city Heights at least, who’ve talked about how helpful it would be to have a shuttle from kind of the deep pockets of certain communities to a transit line, right. That would be pretty low cost and make a huge difference in their ability to get there. Um, so before we say San Diegans and Californians don’t like transit, I think, um, and knowing that we need to do it, as you acknowledged, um, let’s build something worthy of them liking it, um, and at least make an effort to create that before we write it off completely.
Q: There’s a transit expert named Wendell Cox who consulted on the San Diego trolley, and he says the No. 1 problem in America on transit is that we assume everywhere is New York City. Transit is perfect in a densely packed city like New York City and to a lesser extent, other cities on the East Coast. There are no cities like that, by and large, on the West Coast. In BART, they have like a subsidy of like 90%, and they still don’t have the ridership that you have in in New York City. [Editor’s note: BART’s subsidy is actually 25%.] So it just seems to me like we’re hammering a square thing into a round circle and expecting it to work. But yet these arguments get nowhere. And it just gets it back to my best practices thing, why can’t governments like work rationally and say what has worked here and what has not worked here? Because transit as a success story is a hard sell in California.
A: Well, we will never be New York, but we will certainly be more dense, and we are more dense than, you know, than 10 years ago and 20 years ago, and we’re moving in a much more dense direction. Right? And so I think that, um, we certainly need to be building a transportation system overall that it is not meant for just today, but where we’re going as a city and as a region and that is a more dense, a more urban place. Right? So I would say that, um, you know, even as you described that, it sounds like there will be more of a place for transit than there is today and certainly than there was before. And I’ll be honest, I think that there is a little bit of a gap between those who, um, have spent 40, 50, 60 years in San Diego, those who moved here more recently, and those who are just, you know, coming of age now in terms of what they see San Diego as, right? Um, it is no longer simply, you know, a network of, you know, suburban neighborhoods, right? Look out this window. I’m sure you all from your vantage point have seen literally the city growing up, um, and becoming more urban. Um, and so, you know, that’s, that’s point one there. And the second [point], um, government can certainly do better, right? We can and we need to strive to do better. Um, uh, but I think that there’s a little bit of an apples and oranges comparison between government and the private sector. Um, the ability to pivot, um, is a little more challenging for government and sometimes with good reason. So I think it’s a little bit of an apples and oranges comparison and I think you heard me earlier acknowledge that we also very much need to be looking for best practices and, um, trying to innovate more at the same time.
“I think that we certainly need to be building a transportation system overall that it is not meant for just today, but where we’re going as a city and as a region.”
— Sean Elo
Q: Scooters.
A: Yeah.
Q: Godsend or godawful?
A: Um, it’s so funny that, like, I actually feel like that is the conversation and that bothers me and that will bother me with most issues from this to, you know, short term vacation rentals. Um, so I’ve really enjoyed... I’ve used them at times and they’ve been very helpful for me. Right? Um, and I think that there’s a lot of potential there, and I hope that we don’t write them off completely. I also think that for a business that requires public right of way and public space to operate, that we better be negotiating with them and making sure that the city’s getting a fair deal out of it and they need to be used in a safe way. I’m really concerned about the way that they’re used in district nine where I see young people just bombing down hills. Right? Um, that’s super scary, right? And I don’t know what accountability there is for the companies that are operating those scooters, um, to ensure that they’re not being misused, um, in a way that is very, very foreseeable. Um, like if you put a bunch of scooters and provide access to teenage boys, there’s a good chance they’re going to get on those scooters and give them a fun ride. Right? Um, so, um, I think it’s neither. I think that there’s a lot of potential there. Um, as is often the case in San Diego, we’re kind of stumbling toward, um, the place that hopefully is the right place rather than just, you know, getting rid of them completely. Um, and I’ve had arguments with friends who feel both ways or, you know, neither yet.
Q: On short term rentals, you brought it up. The City Council passed comprehensive rules a year ago and then two months later after there was a referendum qualified, they backed down. Obviously this is going to end up in an election fight no matter what, so should they backed down or should they have trusted, you know, to put this before voters and see what they said.
A: I was really frustrated... And again, that wasn’t a primary issue that I was working on in my policy work. Um, so it was, you know, as a concerned resident, right, reading the articles, um, and talking to some friends who work at city hall, um, I was really frustrated with it because it felt like a very nuanced issue that did not have a nuanced conversation. It felt like the folks who were talking about it had never used or experienced, um, short term rentals in any way. That was all super frustrating to me. Um, there is just no way that with, um, uh, the smart people who helped create the app, who create the platforms and, um, the folks that we have here in the city, we cannot find a place that works for everyone. Um, I think that, um, you know, uh, neighbors should know that their house is not going to turn into a hotel room. Uh, we cannot be having, you know, de facto hotel rooms that are removing housing stock. And I also know that for, particularly for some older San Diegans who are now empty nesters, the ability to rent a room and their place while they’re home really makes a difference for them in being able to make ends meet. And so, um, we just have to have a more nuanced, smarter conversation about it.
Q: Uh, back to the housing issue, there’s a big debate about parking, developing housing without parking along transit lines.
A: Yeah.
Q: In most of your district, every property is along transit lines of one time for another within the boundaries of the proposal. I’m wondering, how do you feel about that? Do you have designated parking where you live and what would you imagine your district looking like if they just kept building up and up and up without providing parking for those people?
A: Yeah, so I think that, and this isn’t a way of dodging it, it depends. It depends on the part of the neighborhood. Depends on the type of families that we’re trying to have live in that development. Um, for certain families, they’re going to need a car, right? So if, if you do the type of work where you have equipment to load in your car and you need to get it from point A to point B in order to do your work, um, you need a parking spot. Right? Um, but there’s other families where that is much less the case. So I think it’s just, again, a little more nuanced conversation. It’s, working with community to identify the needs of a particular neighborhood and community and figuring out what parking, um, may or may not be needed there. Uh, this is an example. Um, there’s a push generally speaking for more smaller units, which is really important. It’s a way that we’re going to meet the housing demands that we have to be at. District nine, though, has a lot of multigenerational families, right? And so we actually need to ensure that some of our affordable units are big enough to house three generations of a family. And I think that the parking situation is somewhat analogous to that in that we need to make sure that we’re not doing a one-size fits all approach for the whole, certainly not for the whole city. It’s much too complex and diverse a city to do that. And even for city council districts, there’s 1.4 million people in the city right now. Um, there’s nine city council districts. Within each district, there’s a ton, ton of complexity and diversity. And so, um, uh, we just need to be having the conversations with community members to ensure that we’re meeting their needs and also meeting the broader needs of the community in terms of building housing.
Q: In 2014, I asked each of the candidates this question, have they seen the movie district, “District Nine”?
A: Hmm...
Q: Haven’t seen it?
A: I don’t think I have.
Q: Okay.
A: Yeah, I didn’t see that one coming. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see that one coming. The studying last night, it wasn’t on my list.
Q: You said you had a bike, right? Do you still? Are you still cycling around town and what do you think of A) bike lanes where the city has put them in and B) climate action plan says that 18% of the rides in dense areas will be people using bikes or walking to get to where they need, which is three times more than I think the city that has the most such use now. So I guess A) what do you think of the bike lanes and B) is that climate action plan, does that deserve to be reexamined? Do some of those numbers not compare with reality?
A: Um, so yeah, I do ride still, uh, not as often as I’d like right now because, um, just for work purposes it’s a little challenging. Um, I also know that I would ride more, um, if I felt safe, um, on that commute with my bag on, and especially if I needed to come home at night. I think that’s part of the challenge. Right? Um, so again, just like with transit, um, people don’t like bad transit. People don’t want to ride in an unsafe, uh, bike lane. Um, parents are going to be unlikely to let their children ride in unprotected bike lanes. Um, so I absolutely do think that simply by creating, you know, a safe bike network, we can increase quite a bit. Um, and then, you know, part of it will also be folks, you know, uh, seeing that as a lifestyle option and if we build the right amount of housing, they can position themselves in a place where, you know, biking and transit can be a more, uh, consistent part of their lives. Um, in terms of how they’ve gone in, there’s some that seem great. There’s others that seem a little less ideal. I know that it’s caused a lot of turmoil in certain parts of the community. It’s a big change for certain people. And I understand that. Um, but I also do really think that it’s important and, um, you know, the housing crisis is a crisis here in San Diego that we’re dealing with, and obviously throughout the state, but, um, the climate crisis is real and that’s got to be at the forefront of the decisions that we’re making. And an important part of that is getting us into into modes of transportation where we’re not creating any greenhouse gas emissions.
Q: Got positions on the two ballot measures that are... I guess three big ones that have come forward. Stephen Russell’s Housing Federation affordable housing bond. Do you support that?
A: Yes.
Q: Convention center expansion?
A: ... Yeah.
Q: That seems like a little hesitant.
A: I think that it’s a log jam in the city right now. I think that we’re not able to move forward on all of the things that we want to move forward with, until that is done. I think it will have a lot of benefit to the community. Um, so I support it and I’m also like ready for it to be decided.
Q: You don’t want to talk about it anymore.
A: I just...
Q: The community doesn’t...
A: Yeah. I think there’s a lot that we have to get to and it, you know, it feels like a little bit of Groundhog Day, uh, on that issue. So yeah, let’s, you know, let’s get it on the ballot and, you know, it’s going there and let’s figure it out.
Q: How about subpoena powers and more independence for the citizens review board overlooking police department misconduct?
A: Yeah. And I am generally supportive of the efforts to do that. I will say that I think our police force right now is, uh, in a pretty impossible spot. Um, I was looking at, um, you know, their feelings about, um, job satisfaction and what the retention looks like over there. They are, again, serving as de facto mental health counselors. They’ve got a lot on their plate. It’s really, really hard. And, um, San Diego, um, lives in a...You know, we have to acknowledge the existence of, of um, systemic and institutional racism and the way that that plays a role in how, um, folks feel around police, their trust in police. Um, and then also, what goes on nationally, even if it didn’t happen here in San Diego, is going to impact the way that folks feel about about their police force. Um, and so that means that we need to take proactive measures to build trust and make sure that the community feels like there is accountability. That feeling is super, super important. And I look forward to being able to work with, um, you know, particularly with council member [Monica] Montgomery, um, and her efforts to build that bridge, um, to acknowledge the changes that need to be made. And at the same time, um, build a bridge between community and police because, um, I will also acknowledge that the police are important to the feeling of safety for a lot of people in San Diego.
Q: And on another public safety issue, one of the priorities on your website is increasing response times. A lot of people say, you know, we need to improve retention and recruitment of law enforcement, but that issue isn’t one that we’ve had... Obviously as a city we’ve had it over time, but it doesn’t seem like it’s rising to the top this time around. How would you specifically look to improve response times?
A: So my understanding thus far is that a lot of this has to do with staffing. That we need to make sure that we’re staffed well enough. This comes, you know, kind of connects with another issue generally, that we need to make sure that there’s enough people not just like to do the job, but to, like, not be exhausted in the job, to not be turning over quickly, being trained and then, um, poached by another locality nearby. Um, so it’s one of those things that needs to be approached from multiple angles because you know, people’s lives are at stake.
Q: Do you think police and fire have good salaries now?
A: Well, so I think we took some steps forward with police and I think we need to... Um, there’s a lot of progress. I was actually going through the human capital audit last night, um, as a refresher and those numbers... To see that, um, it was police, it was fire and it was, uh, the City Attorney’s Office that were least likely to recommend the city of San Diego as a place to live. That’s a problem. That’s a real problem. Um, so I also know that one of my groomsmen, um, uh, he’s a firefighter up in Orange County. He’s got friends down here. The reputation of San Diego fire is that this is a beautiful place to live, we’d love to be here, but you know, get your training and go get a job that’s going to pay you better. And of all jobs, it can’t be, you know, our police, our fire and our city attorneys who feel like they need to, uh, you know, be getting out of here as quickly as possible.
Q: Any other questions?
Q: Do you have any priorities that we didn’t talk about that you would put forth to represent yourself?
A: Um, you know, we didn’t get to get into it, and I understand. I do really think that there’s a place for the city to better support education. And so um, you’ve seen a little bit of my work with young people and one of the things that we’re trying to do is pull together, um, education, government, nonprofit and business to work to benefit young people. And so, um, I do want to see the development. Um, right now at work, we’re working on the development of a regional master plan for child youth development. I think the city needs to have a similar plan. Um, if we’re not road-mapping, um, how to take, um, young people in San Diego from birth to adulthood and make sure that they get there happy, healthy and prepared to reach their potential, um, we’re really, really failing. We’re failing our youth, and there is a role to play in, um, in better supporting schools. I think you all will see in the months to come a growing effort and call for true community schools where the schools are hubs to the resources and services and programs that, um, families need to thrive and make sure that their students can be the best student that they can be. And the city has an important role to play in that. Um, and so, you know, at a future time I’d definitely like to talk more about how, um, the city can step it up on that level.
Q: Are you gonna stay at your day job if you become a council member?
A: I won’t be able to, which is really... It’s sad to me and it’s a little scary because, um, we spent some time building an organization that I’m really proud of. I joked with someone, a worst case scenario [if not elected] is I still have a job I love and I get to serve on the community college board. And they said, no, no, no. The worst case scenario is that you know, that the job you’re trying to get is not nearly as good as the jobs you have now. And I love what I do. I literally get to work with young people to like take their ideas based around the things that they need in their life, their lived experience, and work with them to work for that change. It is a, uh, inspiring space to be in. It is certainly a much, um, more optimistic and, uh, feel good space than politics typically are. And so, uh, I will be sad to leave that behind, but I also know that I can, um, do a lot of good fighting the fight inside if I get there.
Q: So give us your closing speech. Why should voters choose you in a crowded field?
A: Yeah. Um, yeah, it is a crowded field, and it seems to be, uh, you know, changing by the day. Um, so, you know, we talked about where we’re going to be at the end of 2020, in December of 2020, when we swear in the new council and the new mayor steps up. There’ll be a new mayor. There’ll be five new council members. We need folks who can do the job. We need folks who can, uh, look at the multiple sides of an issue. Uh, we need folks who can, um, who can build coalitions who are used to maintaining relationships in really difficult conversations. Um, I think I have all those traits. We also need someone in district nine who has a history of working with the various parts of the community. Um, it is complex. Um, so a lot going on in there and it’s really, really important that district nine has someone that has worked, um, with various parts of the community that has, um, kind of, uh, built bridges that has um, seen the nuances, threaded the needle again on difficult issues. I’ve been in the room as, um, you know, um, Latina immigrant, uh, grandmothers and, and, uh, Southeast Asian refugee moms have like stood in solidarity to get better health for Muslim students. Right? So I’ve been there and watched that happen, and it’s a really beautiful thing that is unique to district nine, but it’s not easy. The path there is not a simple one. And I think it’s important that we elect someone who’s done that community work as well. So I think I have the professional background. I think I have the education. I think I have the relationships with folks. Um, and I also think that I have ties to the community that will allow me to step in there and do a good job at the very, very beginning.
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