Sean’s vision is simple — a San Diego where every person in every neighborhood has an opportunity to reach their potential and thrive.
Sean believes San Diego’s greatest asset isn’t its weather or beaches, but its people. Sean is committed to fighting for the hardworking San Diegans who are the heartbeat of this city yet are finding it more and more difficult to see a future here.
Sean’s Priorities.
Sean’s experience growing up in a family that moved in and out of the middle-class helped him understand how hard it can be to make ends meet. That’s why Sean’s number one priority for his second-term is taking on the cost-of-living crisis that is making it so tough for so many San Diegans to get by. From fighting for higher wages for workers and reducing childcare costs to taking on corporate greed that is driving up housing and grocery costs, Sean is working to make San Diego more affordable and provide every neighborhood with the respect of quality City services.
In the midst of a decades-long housing crisis, residents throughout San Diego’s District 9 are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. This issue is personal to Sean, as he experienced homelessness as a student, and felt the impacts of his family being displaced from a small studio when their rent doubled.
Sean’s commitment to his “Housing For All” plan has prioritized making homes more affordable, providing tenants stability, banning discriminatory practices, and being unrelenting in advocating for the proven practices to address and reduce homelessness.
As your City Councilmember, Sean has successfully fought to:
- Expand tenants’ rights and protections
- Ensure all tenants have legal representation available to them in tenancy-related court action
- Increase the supply of affordable homes
- Bring more affordable homes to District 9 that can accommodate large, multi-generational families
- Support an initiative led by Councilmember Vivian Moreno to fund first-time homebuyer programs
- End the ban on affordable homes that perpetuate poverty and segregation
- Provide supportive housing and additional shelter options for people experiencing homelessness
- Deliver more than $218 million in emergency rental relief to San Diegans
- Create a Housing Instability Prevention Fund that protects seniors, families with children, and people with disabilities from falling into homelessness.
At the core of our environmental policy platform is the belief that every person deserves to live in a clean and healthy neighborhood and climate action cannot wait. Unfortunately, generations of racist policies and practices have created a San Diego where health and life expectancy are directly linked to what neighborhood a person lives in.
As your Councilmember, Sean has pushed to take bold action to combat the climate crisis and ensure every San Diegan has access to clean air and water, quality parks, and safe streets. He’s also gone above and beyond his role at the City by serving on regional boards of the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), and as Vice Chair of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). In each of these roles, Sean is fighting to make sure San Diego gets its fair share of resources and is treated with the respect all residents deserve.
As your City Councilmember, Sean has successfully fought to:
- Strengthen the City’s Climate Action Plan update to prioritize District 9 communities that have been historically underinvested in
- Expand mobility options with a particular emphasis on fair investment, connecting all communities to opportunity.
- Support efforts to shift the City of San Diego to 100% renewable sources of energy
- Partner with Councilmember Raul Campillo to hold SDG&E accountable for delivering on their promise of providing millions of dollars for solar energy to low and middle income San Diegans
- Negotiate the acceleration of $10 million in funding for San Diego’s Climate Equity Fund, which pays for infrastructure that will allow disadvantaged communities to be better prepared for and resilient to climate change
- Partner with County Supervisor Nora Vargas and SANDAG and MTS Boards to secure free public transportation for youth under 18 years of age and foster youth under 24 years of age
- Approve policy changes that will make tens of millions of dollars of new park and infrastructure funding available to District 9
Every person in every neighborhood deserves to feel safe and know they will be treated with fairness. However, despite safety being a universal need, it is also a subjective feeling. What one of us needs to feel safe may differ greatly from what others need. Similarly, justice requires an understanding of what individuals and communities need for fairness to be achieved.
Our efforts to provide safety and justice to all San Diegans is rooted in the recognition that we all have different needs that should be honored. For some, emergency response is the top priority for safety while others are most concerned about their built environment or knowing that their basic needs are met. This “all of the above” approach has led to Sean successfully supporting many safety and justice efforts.
As your Councilmember, Sean has successfully fought to:
- Improve salary and benefits for firefighters, police, and lifeguards to ensure we recruit and retain the best public safety personnel
- Secure funding to improve road safety on some of the most dangerous roads in San Diego County.
- Support City Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery-Steppe’s “No Shots Fired” initiative, which aims to disrupt and prevent violence
- Invest in weed abatement, fire helicopters, and other critical fire prevention and response measures
- Launch initiatives, such as “Parks After Dark,” that bring positive activity that improves safety in the near and long terms
Whether he is serving as a high school coach, elementary school teacher, or executive director of a youth-serving nonprofit organization, Sean’s greatest passion is providing people an opportunity to reach their full potential. And in his current role as City Councilmember, he has leaned into expanding opportunities for people of all ages.
Sean’s dedication to expanding opportunity has extended beyond his role at the City to include his service on the San Diego Workforce Partnership Policy Board, where he actively works to expand employment opportunities. In addition, in 2022, he was appointed by State Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins to serve on the California Cradle-to-Career Data System Governing Board, where he is charged with overseeing the creation of a statewide system that will help students reach their goals.
As your Councilmember, Sean has successfully fought to:
- Improve working conditions, salaries, and benefits for San Diego’s City workers so those who serve the City and their families can live here with dignity
- Help create San Diego’s Office of Child, Youth, and Family Success
- Approve $18 million in State funding for the establishment of the City’s Employ and Empower internship program, which provides paid work opportunities to young San Diegans primarily from under-resourced communities
- Support Councilmembers Raul Campillo and Stephen Whitburn in their effort to repeal the City of San Diego’s counterproductive and unfair ban on labor agreements
- Partner with County Supervisor Nora Vargas and SANDAG and MTS Boards to secure free public transportation for youth under 18 years of age and foster youth under 24 years of age