FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 18, 2021

CONTACT:
MayorPress@sandiego.gov

SAN DIEGO With Saturday marking his 100th day in office, Mayor Todd Gloria has taken critical steps to stabilize a City in the midst of a pandemic and tackle major issues left behind by the prior administration. Gloria took the reins with a commitment to fill a void in leadership and improve the lives of San Diegans in every neighborhood through the creation of a more equitable City government.

San Diegos problems didnt happen overnight, and they wont be solved overnight either. We set an ambitious agenda requiring work on major issues while combating a pandemic and we have made great strides, but this is just the beginning, Mayor Gloria said. We have more work ahead to make housing affordable for working families, implement strategies to end chronic homelessness, reimagine policing in our communities, repair our crumbling infrastructure and get San Diego back to work.

Highlights of his first 100 days include administering nearly 55,000 COVID-19 vaccines, setting up vaccination sites in underserved neighborhoods, ushering in a new era of compassionate solutions for people experiencing homelessness, providing direct aid to people and businesses struggling from the pandemic, taking action to address climate change, and diversifying City leadership as well as the Citys volunteer boards and commissions.

Mayor Gloria assumed office on a platform centered on a philosophy of service to his community. His experience seeing people struggle because of a lack of opportunities led him to fight to build a City that works for everyone, not just the wealthy or the privileged.

PROVIDING LEADERSHIP THROUGH A PANDEMIC

Mayor Gloria assumed office as COVID-19 infections and deaths climbed. He took swift action to save lives, protect struggling renters and businesses, and work with the County of San Diego and other regional partners to stand up vaccination centers.

Nearly 240 Fire-Rescue personnel have been trained as vaccinators and have provided more than 55,000 vaccines to San Diegans. The City sent mobile vaccination units to retirement communities and set up single-day vaccination sites at Malcolm X Library and Montgomery High School all in traditionally underserved neighborhoods.

As cases surged, he issued an executive order to encourage businesses to follow public health orders and enacted a commercial eviction moratorium to protect small businesses. He followed that executive order with another that capped the fees third-party delivery companies could charge San Diego businesses.

He also successfully advocated to the state and federal governments to create the City of San Diegos $82 million housing stability assistance program and more than $300 million as a part of President Joseph Bidens American Rescue Plan.

CHANGING THE STATUS QUO ON HOMELESSNESS

Homelessness has been a long-standing priority for Mayor Gloria, which is why he pledged on his first day in office to move swiftly and decisively to protect the most vulnerable San Diegans. He officially moved homeless services into the Mayors Office and brought on a national expert in Matthew Doherty to evaluate the Citys current homeless response ecosystem.

He took immediate steps to extend Operation Shelter to Home, the emergency shelter set up at the San Diego Convention Center to provide a safe and sanitary environment for hundreds of people experiencing homelessness.

The collaborative effort between the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, Regional Task Force on the Homeless, San Diego Housing Commission and Convention Center has served more than 4,000 individuals and helped nearly 1,300 individuals and 43 families find permanent or longer-term housing. He is following through on his pledge to wind down the operation this month and is working with partners to ensure that all people sheltering in the Convention Center are safely relocated to housing or another location in the City shelter system.

In February, Mayor Gloria announced new funding for shelter and services for transition-age San Diegans.

Last week, he announced a major shift in the City's outreach efforts that employs a neighborhood-based, person-centered approach to meeting the unique needs of San Diegos unsheltered population. The change aligns with the principles of the successful housing-first strategy to ending chronic homelessness.

He also directed staff to more humanely clean up City streets by ending abatements at night and during inclement weather.

CREATING A MORE EQUITABLE CITY

One of Mayor Glorias first actions after assuming office was to make changes to the Citys leadership structure that netted $1.2 million in annual savings, streamlined city operations, promoted diversity in the management of the organization and repositioned the Citys new Office of Race and Equity so all City decisions are made through that lens.

Some of his earliest appointees include the Citys first Chief Innovation Officer Kirby Brady and Afghani immigrant Farhat Popal as the Citys new Immigrant Affairs Manager.

He also launched the recruitment for the Citys new Office of Race and Equity to ensure that equity and racial justice are priorities in everything the City does.

Mayor Gloria is committed to increasing representation across the Citys volunteer boards and commissions. In his first 100 days, he filled dozens of open positions with a diverse group of people from across the City to ensure that community voices are heard.

He also created the Black Advisory Group, which is the first of several community advisory groups his administration plans to establish.

Earlier this month, Mayor Gloria released the Citys first pay equity study, which was one of the first of its kind to be made public by a municipality.

In his first 100 days, Mayor Gloria attended dozens of community meetings and held town halls to hear from residents directly.

ACTING ON CLIMATE CHANGE

As the author of the San Diegos landmark Climate Action Plan, Mayor Gloria launched the regions first community choice energy provider, San Diego Community Power, and committed City facilities to use 100% renewable energy.

He also began the process to update the Climate Action Plan and established a Climate Equity Fund to help underserved communities effectively respond to the impacts of climate change.

Recognizing the transportation sector accounts for 42% of greenhouse gas emissions, Mayor Gloria was unanimously appointed Vice Chair at the regional transportation agency and committed to lead efforts to ensure the 2021 Regional Plan supports a sustainable future.

SPEAKING UP ON BORDER ISSUES

As leader of the largest border City in the United States, Mayor Gloria has taken an active role on strengthening cross-border ties and advocating for the megaregion at the federal level.

Mayor Gloria prioritized meeting with Tijuana Mayor Karla Ruiz MacFarland.

Mayor Gloria spoke with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to request federal resources to help asylum seekers get to their final destinations in the United States after they are processed and to lift travel restrictions at San Diegos ports of entry as soon as it is safe to do so.

He is the newly appointed Vice Chair for Border Policy on the U.S. Conference of Mayors Criminal and Social Justice Committee.

MAKING GOVERNMENT WORK

Mayor Gloria inherited a structural budget deficit along with plummeting revenue projections due to the pandemic.

Earlier this month, he released his Back to Work SD blueprint for how the more than $300 million in direct federal relief will be used to beat back COVID-19, protect core city services and provide aid to small businesses.

He will also release a new invitation to bid on a franchise for the exclusive right to provide gas and electricity services to city residents and businesses. The current franchise agreements, signed in 1970, were set to expire on January 17, 2021. Mayor Gloria reached an agreement with SDG&E to extend the current agreements through June 1, 2021. The new invitation to bid ensures new franchise agreements will meet the needs of residents, make financial sense for the City, advance our climate goalsand provide equitable access to environmental benefits for all our communities.

In addition, Mayor Gloria fulfilled his campaign promise to take up an ordinance regulating short-term vacation rentals within his first 100 days. Despite years of no progress on this issue at City Hall, an ordinance was approved by the City Council on February 23, 2021.

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