By Danna Givot
If rudeness to his constituents and fellow council members (as noted by Paul Krueger in “Councilmember Elo-Rivera Leaves the Dias while Resident Speaks at City Council Meeting”) isn’t enough to kill Sean Elo-Rivera’s political career, there is plenty more working against him besides bad manners.
On December 16th, Sean was the primary cheerleader for the College Area Community Plan Update that quadruples the density in this area with no funds or firm commitment to remedy the long term park, recreation center, and fire station deficiencies in this neighborhood in his District 9. The upzoning in the newly passed College Area Plan will immediately make those upzoned properties more expensive based on their development potential. That will please Sean’s campaign donors, but it won’t
solve the community’s serious and long term infrastructure deficiencies, and it won’t make housing more affordable, as noted by Council President Joe LaCava.
While chairing the Select Committee on Addressing the Rising Cost of Living in San Diego, Elo-Rivera has supported exorbitant trash fees (well beyond those in Measure B, which he spearheaded) and huge increases in sewer and water fees. He also supported the 2021 electric and gas franchise agreement associated with those recent fee increases. Ironically, we’ve just learned that his Select Committee on Addressing the Cost of Living has been eliminated, perhaps due to its failure to contain San Diego’s rising cost of living, given San Diego’s inflation rate was the highest in the country in July 2025.
Elo-Rivera recently supported increasing parking meter fees from between 200 and 800 percent and imposing paid parking in Balboa Park – for city and county residents and tourists. And let’s not forget the coupon legislation he spearheaded that resulted in Vons, Albertsons and Pavilions eliminating their digital coupons, so their customers now receive fewer coupons. Additionally, I believe Sean has voted for every salary increase for City employees since he was elected. On the other hand, in the face of huge budget deficits, he has not shown the leadership to make the needed staff cuts (especially in the dramatic increase in middle-management positions) and rein in pension costs to help create a structurally balanced budget.
Elo-Rivera crusades as a savior for the underdog without acknowledging the added expense his so-called “tenant protection” codes have on rents and security deposits these same tenants must pay. I am not aware of any short or long-term analysis of how either “mom and pop” or corporate landlords have responded to these measures, but those who testified during the hearings made clear that the cost of new requirements would be passed on to the newly “protected” tenants.
Leadership requires more than grandstanding, photo opportunities and press releases. It requires consideration of long and short-term consequences of legislation and avoiding “unanticipated consequences” whenever possible. We haven’t seen that kind of future-looking or retrospective analysis from Elo-Rivera. He appears to move from one grandstanding opportunity to the next without ever evaluating the efficacy of the programs he advocates for and pushes through. The public is left to deal with the fallout, like the unexpectedly high trash fees and increased rents and security deposits to cover landlords’ “tenant protection” costs, etc.
Danna Givot is a resident of College Area – El Cerrito
Thanks Dana for putting into words what many of us feel about Elo Rivera.
I can’t agree more with this observation.
“He appears to move from one grandstanding opportunity to the next without ever evaluating the efficacy of the programs he advocates for and pushes through.”
This is probably my biggest complaint about him. He has been a champion of ADU’s in the College Area but hasn’t taken the time to see what is working and what isn’t especially on streets that have a high concentration of ADUs.
If he did, he would see rents were still high, major parking issues – cars blocking the sidewalk or parked in front yards, trash cans left on the street or in front yard with trash on the ground around them, projects lacking trees that were required, or crosswalk or speed bumps to slow traffic down because more people are skateboarding or biking…
My only conclusion is he’s intellectually lazy or just doesn’t care.
Or even reconcile the community with the massive upsizing of SDSU housing going on and the main thoroughfares being choked out.
Elo-Rivera has taken the lead on two legislative initiatives that I believe have long term affordability benefits, dropping the real estate algorithm that maximizes rents artificially throughout the City, and pushing for the $5K per bedroom tax that will encourage short term rental investors to convert back to long term rentals. STRs in Mission Beach hurt small businesses locally , given their seasonality and therefore resulting in half of the housing units vacant in the non-summer months. In addition, the eviction mainly of younger residents in Mission Beach to make way for STRs has left the average age in MB at 61 years. These folks don’t shop locally like younger people do. This is one of those unintended consequences that Elo-Rivera is correcting.
Sean is clearly in over his head. He can spout his divisive ideological beliefs, but can’t care for his constituents. It takes the ability to think outside of one’s ideological box to solve complex social and economic problems within a City. Sadly, Sean has not demonstrated that he possesses that important public servant skill. District 9 and San Diego deserve better. Thank you Danna for sharing your insights so clearly and accurately. Data driven analysis will eventually win the day when dealing with misguided YIMBY ideologues.
Talk left and lean right, this has been a winning strategy for Democrats since Bill Clinton, AKA Slick Willy. This has led us to our current situation where our all-Democrat city council and mayor are pursuing the policies of Ronald Reagan. De-regulation has always led to market crashes and de-regulating the building industry will do the same. In the mean-time your quality of life and the value of your property are at risk. I think we need to do what New York has done and elect a Democratic Socialist.
Class warfare sells. At USD Politifest, Sean referred to people investing in San Diego real estate as Profiteers, and that Air BNB is The Playgrounds of the Rich, displaying an egregious example as if it were the norm. What he forgets is that his activism is hurting those he supposedly champions. Example? I had a tenant who was detailing cars, the City threatened me with a $15,000/mth fine. Ok, so I evict the tenant but attorney says to go “No Fault” so I don’t have the burden of proof in Court. So, I now owe problem tenant three months rent in relocation assistance ($9000) due to the 2023 Council action. Tenant leaves, I sell, exchange into Arizona properties, and the new owner (out of town LLC) raised the rent by 50%. Net result, one less local NOAH 3 bdrm homes, one more top dollar absentee LLC ownership. Thanks Sean.
Activism isn’t hurting you Norman. So as you have stated, the tenant gets no warning, and you just evict the tenant? Your evicted tenant will probably never be able to rent again and is now a burden on all of us all because he was working to pay you rent whiner. You are the problem. And I for one am so glad your own profiteering BS cost you $9K. That’s not activism, it’s called Kharma.
And Mateo, PS: not only was the tenant warned to stop, there was a 7 minute “10 on your side” piece on the local news, about this guy detailing and fixing cars, a commercial use in a residential zone. A week later SD Zoning caught him doing it again. Your “no warning eviction” is wrong.
Poor you.
Thank you Paul for calling out this bad behavior. As you say, we’re three years away from getting rid of politicians like Elo-Rivera. Let us count the days….
Sean Elo-Rivera, pushed for the city council to spend $65 million on new trash cans, nobody’s that stupid there has to be some corruption in there you need to find out what it is. With his control of Lee, La cavalry, and foster, and he controls the island. Everything goes through him.
And those trash fees were supposed to include weekly recycling pick up which still has not been implemented (2027?). It shouldn’t matter if the cans were replaced or not yet. The service is being paid for.
Thank you, Danna, for your courage and honesty about Elo-Rivera’s actions and character. We’ve all seen how disrespectful he behaves towards speakers at the council hearings. I don’t know how he and Gloria sleep at night, knowing how badly they have ruined San Diego and negatively impacted the lives of millions of San Diegans.
Glad to hear I was the problem, as the new tenants can now deal with an large absentee corporation & pay 50% more in rent. For my trouble, I exchanged into two lovely Arizona communities where I’m making far more rent than I did with my NOAH rental here, and I have restored my rights as a property owner again. So in the end I win, San Diego loses both a local mom n pop landlord, & an affordable 3 bedroom house. That is called Karma.
Think of Sean Elo-Rivera as an actor, an actor who knows his demographic audience quite well and knows exactly the kind of performances they will line up to see and hear.
In this market, do not underestimate Sean Elo-Rivera’s ability to deliver performances that keep his audience clapping for more.