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Sign Our Petition – Rebuild Gold Coast and Parkdale Now
Built quickly on loose soils with poor drainage, the roadbeds of Gold Coast and Parkdale failed years ago. While the city has plans to rebuild both streets, residents have been told again and again ground was about to be broken on the project, most recently by March 2021, only to see deadline after deadline pass. Other streets in District 6 need to be rebuilt too, including Perseus, Saluda, Port Royale, and Jade Coast in Mira Mesa, and North Limerick in Clairemont. Sign our citizens' petition for the city to accelerate rebuilding of our critical arterials, read my Times of San Diego piece from 2019, and watch this CBS 8 News story for more.
Virtual Clairemont Community Forum with Tommy on Friday, May 14th
Register now for our Clairemont Community Forum this Friday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m. with Clairemont businesses, neighbors, and community stakeholders in a special neighborhood meeting presented and co-hosted by long-time Clairemont resident Kiah Amande. This virtual community meeting will focus on issues relating to "The Village Within a City" of Clairemont Mesa, including support for small business, lead pollution from Montgomery Field, libraries, deferred maintenance, street lights, street repaving, alley obstruction, and more. If you're a Clairemont resident, look up your voting address to see if you currently reside in the District 6 portion. Register for the Zoom meeting here.
Tommy Speaking with the La Jolla Democratic Club Sunday, May 16th
Join Tommy on Sunday, May 16, as he takes questions and speaks with the La Jolla Democratic Club about his background, career, and policy concerns including housing, homelessness, infrastructure, our city's franchise deal, public power, policing, and seeing our city's Climate Action Plan through to a successful implementation. The Zoom link for the meeting is included in the club's page for the event. We look forward to having you join us on Sunday the 16th for the first of two appearances Tommy will make the day to speak with neighbors and talk more about on our grassroots "neighborhoods first" campaign for San Diego City Council District 6. The meeting begins at 2 p.m.
Tommy at Change Begins With Me Indivisible Sunday, May 16th
Also on Sunday, May 16, Tommy will speak with the Change Begins With Me Indivisible chapter in a meeting featuring homeless advocate Ellis Rose with Conscience San Diego and the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless. Tommy will discuss policy concerns like the city's new Parks Master Plan proposal, public power, policing, and our homeless crisis. Tommy previously addressed homelessness on the record as a council candidate during a forum on the matter in Oct. 2018. The Change Begins With Me meeting on Sunday the 16th begins at 4 p.m., and the Zoom link is here.
Earth Day Message to Our District 6 Neighbors
President Biden deserves credit for his commitment to cut emissions in half by 2030, but despite the change in leadership in Washington, we still have plenty of environmental work to do at the national and local level. In San Diego we're fighting a daily three-front war against climate change with rising sea levels, increased wildfires, and drought – but the city is missing the mark on our Climate Action Plan, City Hall is promoting a new parks master plan that substitutes a points system for acreage, and we must offer greater leadership in the Tijuana River Valley. Support my campaign for San Diego City Council to elect a true environmentalist to City Hall, and click here for my full Earth Day message.
The Time is Now – Neighborhoods First in District 6
As more of our neighbors are vaccinated for COVID-19, we're finding the challenges we faced before 2020 are still with us, and in some cases have worsened. It takes way too long to rebuild our broken streets. The rent for many is too high. Our beaches still become toxic soups during storms. That's why I'm running for San Diego City Council District 6 in 2022. I'll ensure San Diego "Builds Back Better" by investing in our infrastructure, safeguarding our environment, and ensuring all our neighbors in Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Clairemont, Sorrento Valley, Miramar, and Rancho Peñasquitos feel safe at home and on our sidewalks. Neighborhoods First: safe streets, healthy canyons, and vibrant neighborhoods. Join us!
CBS 8 Speaks with Tommy on Combating Anti-Asian Intimidation, Violence
CBS 8 reporter LaMonica Peters talked with Tommy about the increase in intimidation and violence against our elderly Asian neighbors, friends, and loved ones, part of a larger increase in intimidation and hate against Asian Americans since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virulently racist and pejorative reaction by some Americans over the pandemic's origin have been reprehensible, especially the outrageous remarks made by the former president that further fan racist hate and willful misunderstanding – and in some cases, incidents may be going unreported, especially among the elderly. See Tommy's remarks here.
Letter to the City Regarding Intimidation of AAPI Neighbors
As I wrote last month, I'm disgusted at the hatred and intimidation directed against our AAPI neighbors since the onset of the pandemic, and especially the spike in violence since the Jan. 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. To that end, I sent a letter to the City of San Diego's Human Relations Commission to request that it pursue greater outreach to AAPI communities, neighborhoods, and related organizations throughout the city, schedule citywide hearings on the epidemic of anti-Asian hate and intimidation, and for police, fire, and other public safety services and first responders to be part of the dialogue to discuss potential cultural misunderstandings or language barriers that could discourage elderly AAPI neighbors from reporting a hate-related incident.
The Corrosive Cancer of Hate Against Our AAPI Neighbors
As San Diegans, we cherish our diverse, multicultural city and heritage, and we put a premium on safe, welcoming neighborhoods. But I've grown increasingly disheartened and incensed at the increase in attacks and violence against our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) neighbors and community members over the last several weeks. This awful trend has escalated from verbal assaults to spitting and coughing to punching, shoving, and hitting people from behind. An 84-year old man in San Francisco was recently killed when he was shoved to the sidewalk, and ABC 10 reported an elderly Filipino woman was punched in the face riding the San Diego Trolley. This violence must stop – NOW.
The Crisis of Broken Streets in District 6
While canvassing in Mira Mesa one afternoon I stopped by a house on Gold Coast Dr. and asked the homeowner if there was anything he was concerned about. He led me to his front yard where we were hit by flying gravel as a car drove by. "This is my problem," he said. At a meeting on the proposal to rebuild Gold Coast and Parkdale that summer, the city's chief engineer noted with amazement how bad Mira Mesa roads had become. So many roadbeds in Mira Mesa, built quickly and on the cheap in the early 1970s, failed long ago from an intrusion of water, bad drainage, and loose soils. Thanks to Times of San Diego for running my piece on our city's road and infrastructure crisis.
My Grandfather's Labor Legacy
As my family approaches the 100th anniversary of my grandfather's arrival in the U.S., I posted this essay about my grandfather's labor legacy with the United Steelworkers on Labor Day in 2018. A year later, I shared it again after my family found long lost photos of my grandfather following my father's death in December 2018. It serves as a nice reminder that weekends, child labor laws, health care, collective bargaining, paid sick leave, overtime, and so much more came about in the American workplace because workers demanded it as part of the labor movement. Good to remember on Labor Day – or any day.
