VIVIAN MORENO FOR CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8
From a geographic perspective, District 8 is the most unusual in the City Council, comprising of two separate areas — one in Barrio Logan and neighborhoods to the north and east, and one ranging from Egger Highlands south to the border from San Ysidro to Otay Mesa East. Voters have good options on Nov. 8 in a rematch of two Democrats: incumbent Councilmember Vivian Moreno and Antonio Martinez, an aide to Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, whom Moreno edged by 549 votes in 2018.
Martinez knows the district inside-out, having lived there his whole life except for college. This week, in an interview with The San Diego UnionTribune Editorial Board, he made a strong case for better outreach by the city to ensure more district residents know about the range of services available to them; on the need for regular cross-border meetings on issues of common interest; and on the potential to turn what he calls the “ghost town” of San Ysidro Boulevard into a cultural district.
But Moreno easily defeated Martinez in the June primary, for a good reason: She’s been an excellent advocate for her district. She’s focused on housing affordability. Eight park projects — in Nestor, San
Ysidro, Greater Logan Heights and Otay Mesa — received funding in the current budget. More than 40 percent of her district’s streets have been repaired since 2017, and the city finally paved dirt roads and alleys that were a civic embarrassment. She also played a key role in establishing a Climate Equity Fund to help at-risk communities deal with the looming impacts of the climate emergency.
Moreno is a constructive force on other fronts as well. She has been perhaps the single harshest critic at City Hall of the shameful decisions of Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council in 2016 to acquire a decrepit office building at 101 Ash Street without the sort of due diligence most families routinely apply to any decision of significance. Given how much has gone wrong with the deal on so many fronts, she has cause to wonder if “deliberate fraud” was involved. And on another real estate issue, she is reluctant to build a new City Hall until it is much more clear how much office space the city will need at a time when remote work is steadily increasing.
Her approach and achievements are impressive. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board endorses Vivian Moreno in City Council District 8.