By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher
Next week, the City of San Diego will get a new Mayor and basically a new City Council. But in reality, we will be experiencing more than a change of personnel. With a Democratic Mayor and four new City Councilmembers, giving the Mayor a Democratic majority for the first time in the City’s history, there will be an opportunity for some meaningful changes, some of which are already underway. For example, we know that Measure B, which was adopted on the November Ballot, dissolved the present Citizen Review Board on Police Practices and created a new Commission on Police Practices with subpoena power, and separate authority from the San Diego Police, unlike the present arrangement. We know that while we have had a Citizens Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a Human Relations Commission, and A Civil Service Commission for the City of San Diego, nothing has really changed in recent years in terms of visible signs of equality in both hiring and contracting. What will happen with our outgoing Mayor’s new Race & Equity program has yet to be determined.
In the midst of the Pandemic, we will also have the opportunity to work with a Commission on Redistricting both at the City and at the County level. We need to not only serve, but also make input so that we will be represented in the boundaries for elected officials that must be drawn for the next ten years. We must not let the Pandemic cause us to forego our duties of citizen participation. We have exciting new leadership under the new Mayor in the area of appointments to Boards and Commissions. Let’s stay involved and make life better for all of us, not just some of us.
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