Your Neighbor, Your Advocate
At a Pints with Tommy event in Kearny Mesa.
My name is Tommy Hough (it's pronounced "how").
This December marks 18 years since I first arrived in San Diego to work middays as part of the original FM 94/9 airstaff at the former Jefferson-Pilot cluster in Mission Valley.
Over the years, I've enjoyed a great deal of professional success in San Diego via my on-air work at FM 94/9, KPRI, and91X, and in the service of environmental organizations like Surfrider, San Diego Audubon, and ReWild Mission Bay.
I've enjoyed even greater personal success in San Diego as I met my wife Cory while living in Bankers Hill, proposed to her at Sunset Cliffs, and married her at Our Lady of the Rosary in Little Italy. I was welcomed into her family, and a few years later my father and sister relocated to San Diego from our hometown of Pittsburgh to make San Diego their home too.
I co-founded San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action in 2014, and served as the organization's first president until I declared my candidacy in 2017 for the San Diego City Council District 6 seat. With the help of friends, neighbors, allies, and a legion of committed volunteers and supporters who walked until there were holes in their shoes, we kept it a close race to the end. We're not finished.
This December marks 18 years since I first arrived in San Diego to work middays as part of the original FM 94/9 airstaff at the former Jefferson-Pilot cluster in Mission Valley.
Over the years, I've enjoyed a great deal of professional success in San Diego via my on-air work at FM 94/9, KPRI, and91X, and in the service of environmental organizations like Surfrider, San Diego Audubon, and ReWild Mission Bay.
I've enjoyed even greater personal success in San Diego as I met my wife Cory while living in Bankers Hill, proposed to her at Sunset Cliffs, and married her at Our Lady of the Rosary in Little Italy. I was welcomed into her family, and a few years later my father and sister relocated to San Diego from our hometown of Pittsburgh to make San Diego their home too.
I co-founded San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action in 2014, and served as the organization's first president until I declared my candidacy in 2017 for the San Diego City Council District 6 seat. With the help of friends, neighbors, allies, and a legion of committed volunteers and supporters who walked until there were holes in their shoes, we kept it a close race to the end. We're not finished.
Not Your Typical Candidate
Advocating for better wages for health care professionals.
I stepped away from my broadcast career to run for San Diego City Council because our District 6 neighborhoods bear the brunt of being the economic center of the city, but our communities don't seem to receive a comparable level of civic services in return. This is, in part, because we haven't had a councilmember truly independent of Downtown special interests fighting for our neighborhoods at City Hall.
I'm running for city council because I'm tired of the Downtown establishment's failure to address the problems we know must be solved like housing, homelessness, pollution of our air and water, the need for more fire stations, and the failure to implement the city's Climate Action Plan in a timely manner, maintain streets and sidewalks, stop the spread of short-term vacation rentals, and diversify mental health and law enforcement responsibilities.
I'm running for city council because I'm tired of the Downtown establishment's failure to address the problems we know must be solved like housing, homelessness, pollution of our air and water, the need for more fire stations, and the failure to implement the city's Climate Action Plan in a timely manner, maintain streets and sidewalks, stop the spread of short-term vacation rentals, and diversify mental health and law enforcement responsibilities.
Speaking at the Clairemont Town Council.
I'm especially tired of the excuses for our broken roads, and the lack of action to rebuild streets we know can't be fixed with a layer of asphalt – none more notorious in District 6 than Gold Coast Drive in Mira Mesa, now slated for reconstruction in March 2021 according to the most recent city budget.
My wife and I work for a living. We earn our paychecks the same as you. I'm not a creature of city hall. I'm not a product of wealthy or powerful elites. I'm not a rubber stamp for developers. I'm the further thing from a member of the Downtown power structure or establishment.
I'm committed to working San Diegans and our diverse set of communities, and I will never betray the business of our District 6 neighbors in Clairemont, Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Sorrento Valley, Miramar, and Rancho Peñasquitos to Downtown developers or moneyed special interests.
My wife and I work for a living. We earn our paychecks the same as you. I'm not a creature of city hall. I'm not a product of wealthy or powerful elites. I'm not a rubber stamp for developers. I'm the further thing from a member of the Downtown power structure or establishment.
I'm committed to working San Diegans and our diverse set of communities, and I will never betray the business of our District 6 neighbors in Clairemont, Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Sorrento Valley, Miramar, and Rancho Peñasquitos to Downtown developers or moneyed special interests.
A Unique and Lengthy Relationship with San Diego
On the air at FM 94/9 in 2010.
Prior to running for office I'd already met so many working San Diegans at neighborhood events around our city, and spoke to thousands more during my morning and afternoon radio shows and my long-running Brunch With Bob and Friends radio program on Sunday mornings.
During that time, we built a community around shared experiences: our favorite songs and movies, kids' struggles, trips and travel, traffic jams, births, deaths, illnesses, pets, going from one job to another, working two or more jobs while trying to finish school, getting home in time to help your kids with homework, joining the military, retiring from the military, and working day-in and day-out to make ends meet.
What I've learned over the last 18 years from San Diegans like you is the promise of the middle class has slipped away from working San Diegans. We have to make tough financial decisions not just at the end of every month – but every week and every moment – made worse by the brutality of the economic freefall in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During that time, we built a community around shared experiences: our favorite songs and movies, kids' struggles, trips and travel, traffic jams, births, deaths, illnesses, pets, going from one job to another, working two or more jobs while trying to finish school, getting home in time to help your kids with homework, joining the military, retiring from the military, and working day-in and day-out to make ends meet.
What I've learned over the last 18 years from San Diegans like you is the promise of the middle class has slipped away from working San Diegans. We have to make tough financial decisions not just at the end of every month – but every week and every moment – made worse by the brutality of the economic freefall in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the City Council Candidate Forum on Homelessness in North Park.
"Can we put money away for the college fund?"
"Can we get the car worked on this week?"
"What if I lose my job?"
Despite California's on-paper prosperity, you and I know the cost of living in Southern California is unsustainable. We and our neighbors work two or more jobs while trying to make time for school or family. And too many of our kids are unable to afford to live and work in the city or neighborhood they grew up in, despite the abundant opportunities for greater housing here in District 6 that have gone unexplored and dismissed by Downtown power brokers.
You and I know the financial uncertainty facing San Diegans is very real, and while City Hall and rich elites may not see it, that uncertainty follows us around at every moment at work, in the car, at the grocery store, picking up kids at school, on weeknights and weekends, even while falling asleep. The ability to survive within California's status quo, even with two incomes, is receding like an evening tide.
With record numbers of Californians unemployed and seeking medical care as the COVID-19 pandemic persists into an uncertain future, those tenuous connections to an economy that has long been at cross purposes with working San Diegans has been laid bare. I'm the best, most experienced and capable candidate to move our neighborhoods forward that hasn't been tainted by the Downtown special interests and broken systems that brought us to this point.
"Can we get the car worked on this week?"
"What if I lose my job?"
Despite California's on-paper prosperity, you and I know the cost of living in Southern California is unsustainable. We and our neighbors work two or more jobs while trying to make time for school or family. And too many of our kids are unable to afford to live and work in the city or neighborhood they grew up in, despite the abundant opportunities for greater housing here in District 6 that have gone unexplored and dismissed by Downtown power brokers.
You and I know the financial uncertainty facing San Diegans is very real, and while City Hall and rich elites may not see it, that uncertainty follows us around at every moment at work, in the car, at the grocery store, picking up kids at school, on weeknights and weekends, even while falling asleep. The ability to survive within California's status quo, even with two incomes, is receding like an evening tide.
With record numbers of Californians unemployed and seeking medical care as the COVID-19 pandemic persists into an uncertain future, those tenuous connections to an economy that has long been at cross purposes with working San Diegans has been laid bare. I'm the best, most experienced and capable candidate to move our neighborhoods forward that hasn't been tainted by the Downtown special interests and broken systems that brought us to this point.
Moving Our Neighborhoods Forward
Canvassing with Todd Gloria in Mira Mesa in 2018.
I had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones during our 2018 campaign. While further in-person events are on hold due to the pandemic, we're continuing to highlight and celebrate our District 6 craft brewers and small businesses as we lay the groundwork for 2022.
Pandemic or not, I pledge that you will have my ear, that I won't lead from the dark or hide in my office, and that as your councilmember I won't try and quietly drop controversial projects in your lap and hope you won't notice.
I pledge to lead from the front on issues like housing, land use, public safety, parks, open space, equity, and other critical matters, and running for office or not – as a public figure in San Diego for 18 years I'm not one to shy away from people.
I'm easy to find around Mira Mesa, especially at Vons, where I continue to bump into my neighbors and friends (it takes a little longer to recognize each other over the masks) who keep me updated on family members, potlucks – and until recently, bowling scores – and who get me up to speed on the latest potholes and unkept City Hall promises.
As the vice president of Citizens Coordinate for Century III (C3), a member of the Sierra Club San Diego conservation committee, a member of the Clairemont Town Council and Mira Mesa Town Council, one of your elected AD-77 California Democratic Party delegates, and as an AD-77 member of the San Diego County Democratic Party central committee, I continue in my efforts to:
Pandemic or not, I pledge that you will have my ear, that I won't lead from the dark or hide in my office, and that as your councilmember I won't try and quietly drop controversial projects in your lap and hope you won't notice.
I pledge to lead from the front on issues like housing, land use, public safety, parks, open space, equity, and other critical matters, and running for office or not – as a public figure in San Diego for 18 years I'm not one to shy away from people.
I'm easy to find around Mira Mesa, especially at Vons, where I continue to bump into my neighbors and friends (it takes a little longer to recognize each other over the masks) who keep me updated on family members, potlucks – and until recently, bowling scores – and who get me up to speed on the latest potholes and unkept City Hall promises.
As the vice president of Citizens Coordinate for Century III (C3), a member of the Sierra Club San Diego conservation committee, a member of the Clairemont Town Council and Mira Mesa Town Council, one of your elected AD-77 California Democratic Party delegates, and as an AD-77 member of the San Diego County Democratic Party central committee, I continue in my efforts to:
- End destruction of our open space and areas bordering our parks and nature preserves, especially projects that aggravate sprawl, enable upzoning, add nothing to the community, and make a mockery of our city's Climate Action Plan.
- Break the cycle of loser leases that land on the backs of working San Diegans and taxpayers. I used to cite the example of Chris Cate offering Qualcomm Stadium to the Chargers for a dollar a year, but these days, we need look no further than the criminal mismanagement that led to the 101 Ash Street debacle with Cisterra.
- Advocate for citywide internet so all San Diegans can get on-line, immediately, anywhere in the city.
- Pursue municipalization of our city's energy franchise.
- Pursue long-term, effective, and compassionate solutions to our homeless crisis.
- Ensure the mayor and city services rebuild our district's broken streets from the ground up, not asphalt them over or fill problem potholes again and again hoping for a different result.
- Address our housing crisis by encouraging smart density development, and since we won't be getting the trolley in District 6 any time soon, do so in conjunction with transit and parking infrastructure.
- Add more fire stations to a city that remains dangerously short of them, and take the lead on establishing a countywide fire command structure.
- Enhance our community parks and open space, and work to restore our canyons and watersheds to full ecological health, including wetland restoration in northeast Mission Bay as called for in the 1994 Mission Bay Park master plan.
Meeting with neighbors in Mira Mesa.
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Coffee with neighbors in Clairemont.
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Photos by Jay Reilly, Nick Serrano, Steve Rivera, Javier Pastrana, Jeremy Pritchard, Michael Kreizenbeck, Jose Caballero, and Tiffany Cuellar.
Copyright © 2007 – 2019 Tommy Hough