User:Iamnotelmo809/Todd Gloria

Early life and education

Gloria and his family grew up in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego. While their family was poor, they instilled drive and the importance of hard work into Gloria at a young age. All four of his grandparents moved to the area because of their involvement with the military. Todd Gloria comes from a Filipino, Dutch, Puerto Rican, and Native American background.

Todd Gloria’s interest in politics began at a very young age. At just 10 years old, he was runner-up in a “mayor for a day” contest. Furthering his interest and experience in politics and activism, at 14 years old, Todd volunteered at the Democratic Party headquarters to volunteer in the 1992 election for Chris Kehoe. Gloria credits his drive and determination to an ideal his parents taught him at a young age, being that if you truly care about something, then you should leave it better than you found it.  

Todd attended Madison High School and earned a scholarship to the University of San Diego. Todd had been openly gay since he was a teenager and served as a strong advocate for the LGBTQ community in college. Gloria fought to add sexual orientation to the University of San Diego’s non-discriminatory policy. Additionally, he has served many leadership roles for the community, one being the Chair of the San Diego LGBT Community Center.

Todd Gloria graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of San Diego with a history and political science degree. His work at the university helped Gloria further his interest in advocacy and service.

Reference: https://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/about

https://toddgloria.com/PDF/TG-About-Todd.pdf

Reference: https://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/about

Campaign

Main article: 2020 San Diego mayoral election

Gloria announced his candidacy for mayor of San Diego in 2020 on January 9, 2019. Gloria's campaign focused on issues such as the housing crisis, affordability, public transportation, and climate change. Gloria was endorsed by several politicians including Governor Gavin Newsom, former Governor Jerry Brown, and San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott.

On August 20, 2019, Gloria won the San Diego County Democratic Party's endorsement vote, allowing the party to spend money on behalf of his campaign. Gloria received 70% of the votes, exceeding the 60% required to win. Fellow democratic rivals Barbara Bry and Tasha Williamson won 14% and 3% of the votes respectively.

In August 2019, Gloria was accused of collecting funds for his 2020 re-election campaign to the State Assembly before filing his intent to run with the state in violation of state law. Gloria claimed this was a technical oversight and filed the relevant paperwork the next day.

Gloria received the most votes in the primary election and advanced to the general election against runner up Barbara Bry. He was then elected mayor in the November 3 election, making him the first Native American and Filipino-American mayor elected in a US city of over a million people and the city's first mayor of color and the city's first openly gay mayor. He was sworn in on December 10, 2020. Upon being elected into office, he has brought about a plethora of impactful changes to the city, such as battling homelessness by providing shelter to hundreds of homeless people in permanent housing units, established an anti-gang violence program called "No Shots Fired", and worked to extend gas and electric franchise agreements for the city of San Diego.

Infrastructure

To revitalize the infrastructure of the city, Gloria proposed a budget for Fiscal Year 2023 called the “Ready to Rebuild” proposal. At just under $5 billion dollars total, the budget increased the allocation of funds to street maintenance by $27.6 million, parks and recreation services by $4.3 million, and left $55.8 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act money given to the city for the next Fiscal Year . From the budget initiatives, there are several projects underway to repair the infrastructure of the city that are part of the Capital Improvements Program (CIP). CIP functions as the plan to improve the capital and infrastructure of Sand Diego over several years as opposed to the short-term projects in the times of the COVID-19 Pandemic. These projects have focus areas that provide important services for Sand Diego residents such as fire stations, libraries, and parks. 

Public Safety

In 2021, Gloria came up with a proposal to reform policing and public safety in San Diego. Many of the items were formed as responses to the citizens of San Diego. For one of the items, Gloria promised to adequately fund the Commission on Police Practices (CPP), which is an independent organization in charge of overseeing and investigating incidents involving the San Diego Police. There is also a clause in the proposal calling for San Diego police to refrain from using military grade weapons unless absolutely necessary. However, some parts of this proposal are not in action yet such as the Commission on Police Practices not being active and no known unconscious and implicit bias trainings being implemented for officers.  

Homelessness and Housing

As the Council member for District Three, Todd Gloria took charge in the merger of multiple homelessness organizations in the city of San Diego. By doing so, Gloria aimed to unify San Diego's allocated resources in the fight to end homelessness in the city. After Gloria was elected, he continued his promise to address the issue of chronic homelessness making it his top priority. He proposed the use of housing with wrap-around services, making emergency shelters only available for triage, and replacing temporary shelters with permanent housing for those in need.

In 2021, Gloria proposed roughly $10 million dollars in investments aimed towards homeless and housing in San Diego in his budget for the fiscal year. The budget allocates funds for the creation of a new department called Homelessness Strategies and Solutions. A majority of the proposed investments will go to interim shelter beds. The proposal also invests $1 million into funding for the People Assisting the Homeless Coordinated Street Outreach Program, a program that provides housing and services to homelessness residents. Rapid-rehousing programs in the city will also benefit from the proposals funding of 100 additional households and rental assistance.

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