By Nicole Crosby, Candidate for San Diego City Council District 2
It’s no secret that many of us feel left behind by City Hall. It’s a sentiment I hear from and share with my neighbors every day. With costs on the rise, our infrastructure crumbling, and City leaders pushing half-baked solutions to complex issues, it’s easy to see why.
These were the issues on my mind when I decided to launch my campaign for City Council District 2, which covers the neighborhoods of Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Point Loma, Clairemont, Midway, Old Town, and North Bay. These are the neighborhoods where I started my family, served as the President of the PTA and Clairemont Town Council, and am proud to be raising my daughter.
And as a working mom, I know this race isn’t about abstract ideas or numbers on a spreadsheet; it’s about real problems that impact real people’s lives. I have served the City Attorney’s office for over a decade, where I’ve stood up for victims of elder abuse, hate crimes, and gun crimes. Every day, I work to help ordinary people secure justice and dignity against those who try to exploit them. Now, I’m running to take that fight to City Hall on behalf of our neighborhoods and stand up against the corporate special interests that want us to stay quiet.
While serving in the community, I have seen firsthand the ways that the system is rigged against working San Diegans: whether it’s corporate short term vacation rentals turning affordable homes in our communities into unregulated hotels, a recreational airfield spreading pollution directly into our backyards, or a stunning lack of investment in basic infrastructure and services. What would fixing these issues and making City Hall actually work for us mean in our everyday lives?
First, it means delivering the basic services that people have a right to expect from their local government. I’ve spent my career managing government budgets and securing grant funding, and I know fiscal discipline and quality services go hand in hand. Repairing core infrastructure on time, every time, including streetlights, roads, crosswalks, and sidewalks, is a basic city service.
And to pay for that, we must start with the money City Hall is already leaving on the table. Other cities are negotiating steep discounts on shared vendor contracts that San Diego isn’t,
which is why I will order a full audit of City contracts to ensure fair pricing, not cuts.
It also means reviewing our full lease portfolio and holding tenants to fair terms. Roughly a quarter of City leases sit in expired holdover status, likely well below market value, including golf course leases signed decades ago that haven’t been meaningfully renegotiated since, locking in below-market rents for operators for years to come. And it means directing City departments to compete more aggressively for the federal and state grants for roads, parks, public safety, freeing up real money for essential infrastructure and municipal services.
The solution is not to contract out our city services to the same corporations and consultants that have created a pay-to-play system at City Hall: it’s to recover the revenue we’re already owed and reinvest it in the communities that provide them.
Fixing things also means reining in the nearly 6000 short-term vacation rentals across our city that drive up housing prices and sit empty for nearly half of the year. When we allow entire
homes to become hotels full-time, we price out families and force our teachers, nurses, and firefighters into long commutes far away from the communities they serve.
We have already seen the consequences: the loss of permanent residents in neighborhoods saturated by short-term vacation rentals has been tied to declining school enrollment and even school closures. These rentals also overburden our first responders, costing taxpayers and increasing emergency response times. We need common-sense reforms to improve the lives of long-time residents, such as extending the City’s current two-night minimum stay to match the standards set by other cities across the country. These policies will encourage owners to convert these entire-home rentals back into long-term housing that local residents can afford, keeping homes in San Diego available for San Diegans.
City Hall must also make sure our city’s land is being used in ways that make sense to improve our quality of life.
My neighbors in Clairemont have constantly raised concerns about the noise and air pollution from the 450 acre Montgomery-Gibbs Airport that seeps into the surrounding neighborhoods. For years, planes from the airstrip have caused hazardous lead exposure for San Diegans, something that the City has hardly acknowledged after years of community outrage. The risk of accidents directly endangers our neighborhoods. The Federal Aviation Administration has even named the airstrip a “hot spot” for potential incidents and warned about the risk of collisions. Two people died in a plane crash just this week. Another plane crashed on the way to the airport last year in Murphy Canyon, killing 6 people and displacing families in the middle of the night. Either we decide that these risks to our homes, health, and children in the heart of San Diego are somehow tolerable, or we listen to our neighbors and use the land to serve local residents.
Every night when I tuck my daughter into bed, I think about the future that I want to see for her. I want my daughter to grow up in a city where our communities are thriving, our streets are safe, and nobody who works full-time is forced to live in poverty. I’m running for city council because San Diego families deserve someone who will stand up for them at City Hall, demand accountability, and make sure our city is working for the people who live here — not the special interests with the biggest checkbooks.
If you believe in fighting back, I hope to earn your vote this November. Please join our people-powered campaign, because it takes a good neighbor to stand up for our neighborhoods.
Two people died in a plane crash at Montgomery just on Monday.
Sounds all cute, where do you stand on the upcoming water rate increase?
Cute?
Yes, cute. It all sounds so safe and simple.
Every night when I tuck my daughter into bed, I think about the future that I want to see for her. I want my daughter to grow up in a city where our communities are thriving, our streets are safe, and nobody who works full-time is forced to live in poverty.
Could you be more sexist?
By all means vote for Dick, but maybe find a better reason than just being sexist
Thanks, Mel. Glad I’m not the only one seeing that.
Campillo needs to follow Nicole’s lead on these topics, particularly Montgomery field.
Yimbys allow endless projects to be built without parking with predictable results. Curbside parking is slammed and tenants walk blocks from whatever parking spaces they can find. A unit that goes AirBnb is primarily served by tourists using Uber or similar, which at least provides a use for these under parked excess units. Increasingly these units without off street parking will be nearly impossible to rent, and then the crazy begins. Dare you accept a sketchy tenant knowing California & City laws? There will be empty units all across town & then the questions will be asked. Who thought this was a good idea? Your support for Midway Rising was the litmus test.
Very sad that 2 people died in the plane crash at the Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport (KMYF) which is the 3rd busiest general aviation airport in the United States, and busiest in California.
https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/2-dead-after-plane-crash-at-montgomery-gibbs-executive-airport
The City unions have tried to close and shut down the city owned 540-acre Montgomery Field Executive airport and the 552-acre Brown Field airport for years in order to build private luxury housing and increase the property tax base to pay for unfunded union pay raises.
The democratic establishment and union candidate Nicole Crosby stated in the Clairemont candidate forum that she wanted to increase City of San Diego revenue by putting luxury housing at both the 540-acre Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport (KMYF) in Kearny Mesa, and the 552-acre Brown Field Airport in Otay Mesa near the Mexican border. Even though both public airports are not in District 2.
During the 2007 too tall Sunroad Kearny Mesa drama, the City Unions were in favor of closing down the City-owned airports. The employee Unions wanted the City to get out of the general aviation airport business to create new revenue streams for the City’s General Fund.
I think currently any airport lease revenues to into Special Revenue Funds have to be used at the airports per Federal FAA Rules.
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/fy20ab_v2airports.pdf
In 2007 City of San Diego staff approved the too high Sunroad building that violated the FAA Part 77 guidelines in order to shut down the city owned airport for workforce housing.
https://tinyurl.com/20070531a
Around 2007, Sunroad and the City were also trying to violate FAA Part 77 to close down our downtown San Diego International Airport (SAN) on public tidelands for workforce housing with another too high tower on Harbor Island that was shut down before building permits were issued by the City.
Thankfully our City Charter Section 221 Sale of Real Property will not let the City Council sell our public airports properties without a public vote. City Charter Section 221 is why Midway Rising is just a long term lease, and not a sale of public lands.
https://docs.sandiego.gov/citycharter/Article%20XIV.pdf
“Real property owned by The City of San Diego consisting of eighty (80) contiguous acres or more, whether or not in separate parcels, shall not be sold or exchanged unless such sale or exchange shall have first been authorized by ordinance of the Council and thereafter ratified by the electors of The City of San Diego.”
So Nichole Crosby may think she can sell off public airport land in order to create new revenue streams for City Union pay raises, but she cannot without a public vote. Even with a public vote, the Federal government may not allow the important city owned General Aviation airports to close down in order to create new revenue for the City’s General Fund.
Montgomery Field is just a few yards from District 2 and her constituents have deep concerns of the airport and its plans to expand. You didn’t mention that. If a plane crashes, will it only crash somewhere outside of D2?
Thanks for the information that Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport has a new Master Plan Update in the CEQA stage that may allow private jets to use the General Aviation airport, thus more air traffic.
Since 2024 the City of San Diego now has unleaded fuel available for airplanes at Montgomery Gibbs. If there are still problems with leaded fuel exposure for neighborhoods, the City Council and the City Attorney’s Office should solve this problem now.
I’m not opposed to Montgomery Field going up for a vote. I’m surprised this hasn’t been put forward. There are a lot of residents who don’t like the airport. On the other hand, if it was closed wouldn’t it become surplus land? Low income housing would have to be given priority ( in theory).
As a person who ‘feels left behind’ by city hall, I don’t see how any of what she wrote changes any of what is happening by the city. It all sounds very pie in the sky without any real solutions for the issues at present.
Also, fun fact, as a 3rd gen Pt Loman/SD resident, it was the first time I’ve heard of North Bay. I had to google where it is.
Yup back to the upcoming water rate
increase?
No mention of reiging in the city’s ADU policy or complete communities is concerning to say the least.
At least she is the first to address the shambles of the city’s Real Estate Department. 25% of all leases are in “holdover” (below market) status? Lomas Santa Fe Country Club and Barnes Center revelations are just the latest. Will anyone actually be held accountable here? Not saying this is a reason to elect her, but this is the first time I’ve heard anyone actually speak to it. Not too keen on her opponent’s “slash and burn” back to 2015 solution. Sounds suspiciously like DOGE.
Plus Nicole is distancing herself from the shambles at city hall. Some thought she would just be a Gloria and city hall tool. Doesn’t sound like.
She is addressing one of the main concerns at the coast — short term vacation rentals — which was made a mess by her Democratic Party predecessor.
And she clearly has local roots and is clearly a community leader — unlike her Democratic predecessor
She never mentions Midway Rising project – telling – she is not willing to take a stand, and she does not have the courage to call out corrupt politics. She will be afraid to challenge the issues that come before her – inadequacies of the EIR, financing, future City price tag when the budget will run a deficit.
“A full audit of city contracts” – ridiculous. Look at the Bids and Contracts City website.
I don’t think this statement is true (rather, homeless encampments): [short term] “rentals also overburden our first responders, costing taxpayers and increasing emergency response times.”
The solution to too many STVRs is to change SDMC limits on the number of rentals allowed.
Re: “reviewing our full lease portfolio and holding tenants to fair terms” This was just discussed a couple weeks ago within the Golf Course lease issues at City Council. RE Assets Dept. does not have the staff to do this. So she wants to hire a consultant for $3M or what? She would need to be on the LU&H Committee for starters or add positions to the Dept.
“I have served the City Attorney’s office for over a decade, where I’ve stood up for victims of elder abuse, hate crimes, and gun crimes.” That’s nice but how does that stop ugly ADUs from being built without DIF, versus being termed a multi-family development?
[STVRs] “price out families and force our teachers, nurses, and firefighters into long commutes far away from the communities they serve.” Ya know, those firefighters living in 4-bdrm houses in Temecula enjoy a work schedule like this: “After a four-shift “go around,” firefighters get four days off, complete another rotation, and then receive six consecutive days off” , plus their overtime and holidays — probably aren’t really complaining about not owning a residence in San Diego.
District 2 needs to spearhead changes in the City’s housing policies. Does she have what it takes to do this? One of 9 councilmembers with a vote isn’t going to get this done.
She doesn’t want: ” nobody who works full-time is forced to live in poverty.” Very naive and unrealistic in this city. I worked full time and lived in poverty – I got a second job. I never felt I was entitled because I worked full time.
And I ditto RK’s comment.
Nice diss on our first responders.
From the Peninsula Beacon- “Nicole Crosby, a deputy city attorney living in Clairemont, said that Midway Rising needs to happen to revitalize the area, but it needs to have transportation baked into the plans.’
I really hope you go deeper on this. The scale is to large and the effect on traffic is very understated. I attended the propaganda meeting at the arena.
I voted for Mandy. She showed up at several Clairemont events and she was the only candidate to actually come to my door and leave a flyer. Bailey and Crosby bombarded me (and still do) with text messages that annoy me to no end. Unions, PACs, or whatever: I’m getting pretty burned out on the person with the most cash winning.
I think we all are, but it does not happen all the time. Look at what happened to Josh Coyne — he had $300K and didn’t come close to winning. I voted for Mandy also — she had the message but not the money or backing — which proves your point.