As University City was recently redistricted to City Council District 6, we are voting in the June 7th Primary Election for our new City Council member. Candidates are Jane Glasson (R), Tommy Hough (D), and Kent Lee (D) (from left to right, above). Two of the three candidates will move on to the November ballot, and one of them will be our new Council member after the November 2022 election. The elected Council member will represent our community and will eventually vote on the University Community Plan Update when it comes before City Council.
The San Diego Union Tribune interviewed each candidate: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/district6race
We had an opportunity to hear the candidates speak and answer questions from the community during four different District 6 candidate forums. At the time, the rezoning proposal was still on the table, and each candidate had different ways of responding to this topic and the subject of housing affordability, as seen in this excerpt from Question 2 of the second forum:
Q: Do you support or oppose the rezoning of single-family residential properties in University City . . . to medium density townhouses?
Tommy Hough:
No I absolutely do not. Let me be very, very clear about this since I know a lot of our neighbors here are very concerned about this tonight. . . . No, absolutely not, I do not support that rezoning. . . . The city has a pathological problem with building housing that no one can afford.
Jane Glasson:
I do not support the rezoning because all University City residents whom I spoke with, they were against it. One said that he really believes it would bring down his property value, and he said that his neighbor was going to sell and so he was thinking about selling as well, and it's really sad because it's a beautiful neighborhood.
Kent Lee: I think what's really important to keep in mind here is that the state has already indeed passed SB9, . . . which currently allows for single family parcels to build up to four units on an existing lot. And one of the biggest problems with it is that it doesn't have a lot of local input and control, and so we know that this proposal is one of the ways in which the city is trying to align that local zoning with State policy.
The videos of all four forums are linked below.
Let's be sure our community has a strong voice in District 6 right from the start, beginning with this Primary Election. Vote!
Candidate Forum Videos:
1) Monday, April 25th by the League of Women Voters, co-sponsored by San Diego350 and the Center for Community Energy
Meeting video in full: https://youtu.be/eZ_93IPUifw
Question 15 on SB9 and the University City residential rezoning proposal starts at 1:06:35 (click here).
2) Tuesday, April 26th meeting by the League of Women Voters, co-sponsored by the University City Community Association, the Mira Mesa Town Council, and the Sorrento Valley Town Council
Meeting video in full: https://youtu.be/6UYqbf7gzyw
Question 2 on the University City residential rezoning proposal starts at 13:03 (click here).
3) Monday, May 2nd meeting at the Mira Mesa Town Council, meeting video in full: https://www.miramesatowncouncil.org/may-2-2022-mmtc-candidates-forum/
4) Tuesday, May 3rd, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Union Tribune forum at Serra Mesa - Kearny Mesa Library: