By Kate Callen
For most San Diegans, yesterday’s Halloween Fairmount Fire will be a one-day news story, quickly forgotten in the run-up to a momentous election.
But the people who lived through hours of terror – residents evacuated from their homes, motorists stuck for hours in stalled traffic – will long remember two things.
The College Area and Talmadge communities were lucky. But luck can run out.
Ask Southcrest residents who are still rebuilding nine months after the catastrophic January floods. Like the Fairmount fire, the Southcrest flooding was not a natural disaster. It was the direct result of City Hall’s inaction in the face of repeated warnings by surrounding communities.
People in Southcrest had urged the City to clear out Chollas Creek and the stormwater system. But storm drain maintenance funds had run low; some had been diverted to buy out the 101 Ash Street lease. So drains kept backing up. Then torrential rains fell. Neighborhoods flooded. And now the City is facing lawsuits for hundreds of millions in damages filed by more than 1,000 plaintiffs.
“It’s Going to Happen Again”
Terry Hoskins, a candidate for the City Council District 9 seat, was delivering campaign signs in Kensington yesterday afternoon when he saw a large plume of fresh smoke.
As a former SDPD community relations officer in D9, Hoskins knew the area well. “The smoke was coming up from a riverbed property with a longstanding homeless
encampment of up to 35 people,” he said.
“People in Kensington and Talmadge have been voicing concerns about homeless living in the canyons,” Hoskins said. “And we had a previous fire in 2019 that went up both sides of Fairmount.”
“It’s happened before. And it’s going to happen again.”
Hoskins stayed on the scene to help with evacuation efforts, and he walked TV reporters around the immediate area to explain firefighting strategies.
This morning, mayoral candidate Larry Turner held a press conference where Paul Krueger, a Talmadge resident (and frequent OB Rag contributor), expressed frustration with Mayor Todd Gloria and Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, the District 9 incumbent seeking re-election.
“Over the past couple of years,” Krueger said, “we have filed over 100 ‘Get It Done’ requests and sent numerous emails to the Mayor and our Councilmember alerting them to the potential for fires and chemical contamination in these canyons.”
In September, Krueger walked down into a canyon off Aldine Drive and found propane tanks, hypodermic needles, a commode, and other hazardous trash. “We filed a ‘Get It Done’ report and were told it would take 18 days to clear out,” he said. “It actually took 3 weeks.”
It isn’t newsworthy when political candidates speak out at disaster sites. But it is newsworthy when elected officials don’t even show up, especially when they’re running for re-election with days to go.
Neither Gloria nor Elo-Rivera were seen near the area. Gloria reportedly was in Nevada, where he’s been spending a lot of time campaigning for Kamala Harris. But he did issue a statement. And Elo-Rivera has been posting statements on social media.
Here in San Diego, when you’re an incumbent with a huge war chest and powerful backers, you can just mail it in.
Sometimes fires are started by people with an agenda.
This is our incumbents’ equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns. They think they’re immune from caring about their constituents. Sadly, they may be right.
That’s a good one! Fiddling while … where were they exactly?
I appreciate our guys (LT, Terry, even Paul Kruger) being on top of this but I’m still so concerned about this election locally. If I’m being honest I’m really worried that we’re not going to win. Can anyone give me some optimism? What are you hearing at the doors? I just can’t do another four years with all these new homes going up.
Don’t give up hope. Opposition to density-on-steroids has reached a tipping point across the city. Incumbents running for re-election are feeling besieged. If they win, it won’t be by much, and they will struggle with a budget crisis and a furious public all through their last term in office. If neighborhood activists in San Diego join forces, we can put these career politicians on the ropes and keep them there.
There’s some thought that Frouder55 is a troll. If you are able to review his / her last half dozen comments, you’ll see they all have a commonality: an initial expression of sympathy that quickly goes into questioning whether the candidates who are challenging the establishment or status quo will win, are up for the task and a general doubting of those who dissent.
This preventive situation is similar to that of the January floods. Both conditions are areas where residents explained concerns to elected officials. The problem with the flood area was that it had flooded before, and the residents’ request was ignored, and the city failed the victims of the January 2024 floods. The problem with the unsheltered area in the canyons is that this area had burned before, and the residents’ request was ignored, and the city failed the residents of this burn area. We are all thankful to the firefighters and police officers for their successful collaboration and teamwork in preventing personal injuries and damage to building structures.
As we approach the election, three days and a wake-up, we should all treat an election as a job interview. It is not just a job interview but an interview for a position that could easily be equivalent to a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The CEO is the highest-ranking executive in a company or corporation responsible for its overall management. This would include, but not be limited to, being accountable for implementing plans and policies that directly relate to the company’s financial strength, operational competence, professional transformation, and calculated supervision, ensuring fiduciary responsibility.
If we expect these standards for hiring a CEO, we should demand the same for electing our political representatives, especially in City Council District 9. This is particularly crucial when the incumbent has been in office for four years. We must ask whether this political figure, like a CEO, should be granted another term based on their past performance. Let’s examine a series of statements and questions, and I urge you to evaluate the situation critically.
• Why has homelessness increased by 45% while the incumbent has been in the office? (Article in U/T 10/25/24)
• Did the incumbent vote to support paying $200 Million for 101 Ash Street, which currently cannot be used, to get out of a lawsuit?
• Why did the incumbent remain silent during a bid for a free sports stadium?
• How did the incumbent lose track of hundreds of millions of dollars given to focus on the homeless crisis and did not inquire if programs the City supported were productive or unproductive?
• Why did the incumbent discard thousands of signatures to allow the Power San Diego Initiative to be on the election ballot but instead voted not to let the people of San Diego decide for themselves?
• After the unfortunate flood in January 2024, the incumbent has been vocal about correcting infrastructure failures. However, during the previous three years, the incumbent did not ensure essential infrastructure maintenance and updates were conducted.
• After four years in office, why do issues involving streetlights, road conditions, and stormwater canals continue to be serious?
• Why have the incumbent supported and incentivized corporate developers that have not resulted in affordable housing but have worsened the possibility for first-time homebuyers achieving their dream?
• Why does the incumbent continuously divide the district into the “have and have-nots” while residing in a community he has labeled as being the “have” and who has described this same community as being unwelcomed to people of color? It is also noted that upon being elected to his current office, he moved from a community he labeled as the “have-not” to his current residence of the “have” community.
• Understanding the incumbent role as being fiduciary responsible with the people’s money, why has the incumbent continued to advocate spending money on items the vast majority of District 9 does not want and champions propositions that increase taxes on those who cannot afford it?
• The incumbent leadership fails to seek areas in the City Budget to reduce spending, such as an example of removing potential lawsuits against elected officials, as reported by the UT on October 14, 2024, when Elo-Rivera violated the Brown Act, costing the city $15,000, as reported in the UT on October 14, 2024. During the same article, the UT stated San Diego has paid more than $240,000 in legal settlements for failing to produce records requested by Briggs clients and other public members.
• Why did the incumbent attempt to silence public virtual comments?
In closing, let us be vigilant and ensure we vote in support of our principles and values that have made San Diego America’s Finest City, not support anyone who attempts to divide and champion identity politics that disrespect the intelligence of the voters in District 9.
Yes I’d like to know if this was indeed neglected city property. We’re required to have defensible space and the fire dept inspects residences for that. Do they inspect the city owned properties? Also, the evacuation order was horrible. College view estates, you couldn’t evacuate, traffic was jammed, a standstill, which needs to be looked into.
Terry, Thank you for your remarks above as they are an excellent synopsis of everything wrong with this current CD9 Council President.
Early on, it became apparent that this council member has no interest in serving the people he is suppose to represent. He uses this taxpaying position to solely advance his own personal agendas. San Diego is in serious shape. We need to vote Elo and Gloria out of office. You and Larry Turner have the leadership skills to right the ship – Godspeed to the both of you!
It is horrible to live in a canyon community and not trust that your elected officials will protect you from increased fire risks due to homeless encampments they refuse to remove. It would have been safer if Todd Gloria had kept the homeless downtown and out of our canyons. We need new leadership in district 9 and in the Mayor’s office. Good luck to Terry Hoskins and Larry Turner.