A Clear Vision for San Diego

"The strength of San Diego is its neighborhoods; we must get our neighborhood services back on track!" -Carl DeMaio

Involve San Diegans in improving our city with a Volunteer Corps.
Carl knows that people all over our city are ready to stand up and chip in their time and energy to help make and keep our neighborhoods clean and safe. Carl has made recruiting and recognizing community volunteers a top priority.

From an emergency fire reserves to supplementing our full-time firefighters and expanding use of volunteers at our libraries, our city government must recognize and enlist the generosity of San Diegans. Carl will fight the establishment, including the powerful public employee labor unions, which might resist volunteer participation in improving our city to protect their own interests.

Cancel the $300 million City Hall project.
When city leaders and downtown lobbyists wanted to build a brand new $300 million City Hall, Carl led the opposition to this costly project and offered cost-saving alternatives. This project is now off the table, and should remain so until we have repaired our neighborhood streets and sidewalks.

Increase Fire Department funding and provide emergency services more efficiently.
Carl proposes taking action quickly to restore firefighting and emergency services to underserved communities in our city. Carl proposes creating a task force comprised of outside experts to critically and comprehensively look at the current staffing models and service processes utilized in the Fire/Rescue Department and the Police Department to look for ways to maximize our staffing and resources.

Expand public-private partnerships to provide neighborhood services.
Carl strongly supports expanding on the city's already successful partnerships with the private nonprofit and for-profit sectors in providing neighborhood services. Carl has made recruiting and recognizing community volunteers a top priority.

The Mira Mesa Park Project is a perfect example of how the old city government model has failed, and how this new collaborative model can work better. When the city discovered that funding was not available for staffing a new aquatics center in the Mira Mesa Park Project, which is improving Mira Mesa's largest Park, Carl proposed partnering with a local nonprofit to open and operate the aquatics center, raise funds through a community foundation, and even explore the sale of naming rights. This sort of innovative public-private partnership can be used to provide neighborhood services that would otherwise go lacking.

Improve case management for the homeless, and support our homeless veterans.
Regrettably, homelessness and the impact of homelessness in San Diego's commercial districts and vacation destinations is the number one complaint of visitors to our beautiful city.

There is a pressing need to improve case management for homeless individuals - and to coordinate resources and funding across a variety of governmental and non-profit service providers. Compassionately and properly addressing San Diego's homeless population is, on the one hand, a pressing issue of human dignity, while on the other hand a pressing issue of economic significance, when homelessness impacts the perception of our city and the choices that vacationers make.

Stop illegal immigration, while respecting the contributions of legal immigrants.
Carl has great respect and appreciation for the tremendous contributions that immigrants have made to our city's success and prosperity since the time of its inception. San Diego's diversity is a great asset to us all. Ordered, legal immigration must be distinguished, nevertheless, from illegal immigration. Carl strongly opposes any and all efforts to make San Diego a "sanctuary city." Illegal immigration is unfair to those who get up every day and obey the rules, and it should never be condoned though policies like sanctuary cities.

Preserve open space and protect San Diego's natural beauty.
San Diego is known around the globe for its natural beauty and the enviable outdoor lifestyle of its residents. Carl strongly supports preserving and protecting our regional parks, trails, and natural habitat.

Among Carl's priorities is supporting the restoration of funding for the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority (JPA). The San Dieguito River Valley Regional Open Space Park Joint Powers Authority, also known as the San Dieguito River Park, is the agency responsible for creating a natural open space park in the San Dieguito River Valley. The Park will someday extend from the ocean at Del Mar to Volcan Mountain, just north of Julian. This JPA is critical to protecting open space in a large area of our city, and is an example of where the city should focus its priorities.