Petition in Support of the Following Letter
Dear Mayor Gloria,
First and foremost, we want to recognize the concerted effort and resources the City of San Diego has implemented on the streets of Downtown San Diego over the past several weeks. We thank you for identifying and dedicating staff and resources to providing increased litter abatement, conducting regular street and sidewalk cleaning, and addressing unsafe and unsanitary conditions. We know that collaboration on our shared goal of a safe, accessible, and vibrant Downtown will help better our City for all of us. As residents, property owners, employers, and stakeholders invested in the bright future of our city’s urban core, we stand ready to support the continuation of these dedicated resources and other collaborative steps forward we can take together. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Every day we hear accounts from Downtown property owners, residents, visitors and businesses about the public health and safety challenges they experience in our urban neighborhoods. We know with concrete examples that the City’s recent adjusted baseline services substantially improved the experience of cleanliness and safety in focused areas of Downtown. The measures over the past three weeks serve as examples that a unified focus and increasing personnel, resources, and data gathering can make noticeable, positive progress. We strongly support continuing this level of City services in Downtown in the weeks and months to come alongside a selection of additional recommendations we are confident will add to that positive momentum.
We stand ready to work with you on this effort and will advocate for the following priorities with all levels of government. These priorities have been selected based on community feedback delivered directly to our organizations for their ability to create immediate impact in our urban neighborhoods by disincentivizing illegal activity, addressing some of the most abject suffering, and mitigating unsanitary conditions.
Coalition Priorities:
1. Enforce a “no tent” policy on sidewalks and public rights of way during the day, every day, except during inclement weather. This will ensure residents, business owners, tourists, people with mobility challenges, and school children can safely access sidewalks and allow for power washing and cleaning services to address health and safety concerns.
2. Provide the adjusted baseline level of City-obligated trash and sidewalk cleaning services at a minimum. This is the level of service that has been happening in select areas of Downtown San Diego since October 10, 2022. The three most important services to continue at an elevated baseline service are: Clean SD litter removal and sidewalk reset, 3-Hour abatement services, and public right of way corner trash can service.
3. Implement future Safe Tent camping sites including the San Diego Housing Commission’s current RFP selection.
4. Assign a dedicated walking SDPD Patrol in corridors with critical public safety concerns including 5th Ave, C Street, Imperial Ave, and J Street.
5. Coalition to urge County to conduct regular, targeted Behavioral Health Services and medical resource outreach deployments in partnership with pertinent government bodies and agencies.
6. Coalition to urge the San Diego County District Attorney, San Diego County Sheriff, and San Diego City Attorney to strictly address crimes by keeping known offenders in jail and halting a revolving door for those engaging in narcotics offenses and other serious crimes.
7. Continue to advocate for state and federal resources to ensure local entities have the funds necessary to carry out these data driven and effective harm reduction and cleanliness programs.
8. Address streetlight repairs and prioritize missing and outdated streetlights with new smart/LED lights.