Tommy Hosts Surfrider San Diego's Biggest Event of the Year
Join my friends from the Surfrider Foundation San Diego chapter and myself this Friday, June 21, at 7 p.m. as I serve as the host and emcee for the 18th Surfrider San Diego Annual Art Gala and Auction at the Marina Village conference center along Mission Bay. Friday's event marks my fourth time hosting this annual event, and my first time doing so since 2014. Celebrate the longest day of the year and the Summer Solstice with us, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to support the San Diego chapter's work to protect the beaches, waves and watersheds of San Diego County.
ReWild Mission Bay Campaign
Thanks to San Diego media for covering the ReWild Mission Bay campaign, and filing stories on our effort to improve water quality at Mission Bay Park, increase climate resiliency, preserve and enhance habitat, and enable greater public access of our bayfront. Our ReWild coalition has come out, again and again, to show the level of support in their neighborhoods for a fair, impartial hearing of our ReWild Mission Bay feasibility study. Thanks to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Fox 5 San Diego (KSWB), CBS 8 (KFMB), ABC 10 (KGTV) and KUSI, and join us this Monday at 1 p.m. at Civic Center Plaza for the full San Diego City Council meeting on the proposed leases.
Thank You for Your Supporting Our San Diego City Council Race
As our committee closes, I'm reminded again of how proud I am of our campaign team, and how grateful I am everyone who hoisted a sign, knocked on a door, made a call, told a friend about us or made a contribution. We were outspent 8 to 1 in the general election, yet we won over 21,500 votes in a record showing for a Democrat in a D-6 race. My final vote total exceeded even that of the winning candidates in the D-4 and D-8 city council races. We came up short, but we kept it close – and that's because of you. I am not discouraged.
Times of San Diego Features Gold Coast Drive
Thanks to Times of San Diego for running my piece on the disgraceful state of Gold Coast Drive in Mira Mesa in the wake of this winter's rains, laying bare the city's infrastructure neglect. We've been told again and again plans are underway to rebuild Gold Coast, in part due to my campaign making it an issue, but the emergency is now. The city should declare Gold Coast and other broken Mira Mesa streets like Parkdale, Port Royale and Carroll Rd. emergencies now that our winter storms have further reduced them to shock-breaking holes and soupy gravel unsafe for cars, transit or bicycles.
A Stunning Conservation Victory, Years in the Making
The biggest public lands bill in a decade was recently signed into law, and given the anti-conservation, anti-science era we're living in where a snowball in winter passes for "proof" our planet's Climate Crisis is a hoax, the Natural Resources Management Act of 2019 is nothing short of an environmental milestone and worth celebrating. Congratulations to everyone who brought these hard-fought bills to add and expand Wilderness and National Parks over the finish line. Read my full essay here.
