San Diego, CA
La Jolla residents make push to advance secession from San Diego
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The effort to make La Jolla its own city separate from San Diego is making a final push ahead of the holidays to move long-discussed proposal forward.
The Association for the City of La Jolla (ACLJ) has volunteers out in the community hoping to collect enough signatures to place secession from the city of San Diego on the ballot some time in the near future.
The grassroots endeavor to split La Jolla from San Diego has been the works for years, with the association finally beginning the signature-gathering process about six months ago in order to get the divorce before voters.
The group now has a Dec. 1 deadline to get 25% of all registered voters in La Jolla — about 6,500 people — to sign their petition. Trace Wilson, ACLJ president, believes they have already met this threshold, but he said they still have volunteers out collecting more in the event some cannot be counted.
If they meet the deadline, the planning agency who oversees the incorporation of cities, the Local Agency Formation Commission, will take up the matter, notably running a financial analysis on what it could mean for the city of San Diego, community of La Jolla and county at large.
“I always call it a win, win win. It’s important we are benefiting the region of San Diego, the city of San Diego and the community of La Jolla,” Wilson said. He said one of the main reasons for the push is he believes La Jolla would be better at taking care of its needs.
Among the benefits Wilson argues separation would come with include: relieving San Diego of all costs and liability for La Jolla, providing an income stream to San Diego through leased services for La Jolla, reliving San Diego of expenses tied to coastline upkeep, giving La Jolla flexibility to fix roads and focus on other projects of importance to residents.
Wilson also says a withdrawal could create “broad economic uplift” and give La Jollans a louder voice in decisions made up in Sacramento.
Diane Kane, the former Mayor for the City of La Habra Heights and vice president of ACLJ, said she has encountered residents with varying thoughts on the proposal.
“You have people who have been here a very long time, who have been through this exercise, and they’re rather skeptical,” Kane said. “We have other people who are really excited and enthusiastic.”
“Growing up here and knowing the history of this city [San Diego] I am so concerned that we are losing most of our infrastructure, because the city doesn’t have the money,” said Melinda Mayweather, a volunteer with ACLJ and one supporter of La Jolla’s secession.
On the flip side, those who have voiced concern about La Jolla’s separation argue cutting off taxes from San Diego’s revenue could be a significant blow to this financial health, as the area has some of the most expensive properties in the entire region and is an epicenter of its tourism.
Kane pushes back on this, calling impressions the La Jolla is a “giant financial machine” nothing more than misconceptions. Their draft financial analysis, she says, shows the community only accounts for about 6% of the city’s property taxes.
“Out of the $700 plus million dollars in property taxes that are collected citywide, La Jolla only contributes $44 million,” she said.
If the separation efforts go through, it will be sent to a double vote: A majority of voters in the city of San Diego will need to approve it, as well as a majority of the some 39,000 residents in what would be the newly-formed city of La Jolla.
There is no official deadline for this to be brought to a vote, but Wilson hopes to have the matter on the ballot in either 2026 or 2028.
County leaders are keeping their options open for a future county-backed tax hike as a citizens coalition pushes a November sales tax measure.
Officials in late April quietly extended a contract with consultants tasked with researching and poll-testing potential county revenue options for a Board of Supervisors subcommittee led by Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe. The extension is for up to two years and the price tag remains up to $320,000.
Other county supervisors’ offices told Voice of San Diego they weren’t notified of the change – and one is now working on a policy proposal to force public updates on subcommittee-directed contracts.
County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said staff directed the contract extension “in consultation with the subcommittee” and based on prior board approval last September to create the Sustainable Fiscal Planning Subcommittee. The item allowed the subcommittee to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 to explore multiple options to increase county revenues and taxes.
An initial January 2026 contract called for Chula Vista-based Ironwood Public Affairs and four subcontractors including a prominent local Democratic campaign consultant to survey county residents, prepare revenue estimates for potential tax hike options, conduct focus groups and outreach and submit a report by May 1.
On April 30, county staff amended the contract with Ironwood to “deliver any requested ballot measure language, report, and presentations no later than June 30, 2028.”
Five days later, a coalition that includes labor groups and advocates submitted signatures to the county registrar’s office for a proposed countywide sales tax hike projected to raise $360 million annually to fund healthcare, child care, solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety. The registrar’s office has since confirmed the measure qualified for the November ballot.
Lawson-Remer has rallied behind the sales tax proposal and argued that a “local revenue measure” could shield the county from Trump administration-backed cuts. The county has projected that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cost the county $300 million annually.
In a statement, Lawson-Remer’s office noted that a board majority voted last September to create the subcommittee and hire a consultant.
“With the Trump Administration threatening healthcare, food assistance, behavioral health, and other core services — and federal decisions being announced, reversed, paused, challenged, and revived in real time — the county and Fiscal Subcommittee has a responsibility to plan for multiple scenarios, including federal cuts, state shortfalls, taxpayer savings, state advocacy, and whether any local funding option does or does not materialize,” Lawson-Remer’s office wrote.
In a separate statement, Montgomery Steppe also pointed to board approval of the subcommittee and its work “evaluating fiscal risks and options to help inform future Board decisions.”
A few months after the September vote to approve the subcommittee, the county hired Ironwood Public Affairs led by former county staffer Victor Aviña. Aviña’s company subcontracted with prominent Democratic campaign consultant Dan Rottenstreich’s company Amplify Campaigns, polling firm FM3 Research, Los Angeles revenue forecasting firm Economic & Planning Systems and Los Angeles-based law firm Kaufman Legal Group.
Glenn said the county has thus far paid Ironwood $96,000 for planning tasks that the initial contract said should be completed by early this year.
The county has yet to provide documents to Voice that the contractor submitted to the county about its work a month after a public-records request.
Spokespeople for the county’s three other elected supervisors said this week they weren’t notified about the changes to the contract.
Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, the two Republicans on the board, have criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the subcommittees and consultants at least two of them have hired.
At an April board meeting, Desmond argued that subcommittees shouldn’t be allowed to spend county money or secure contracts without a review by the full board.
And Anderson has pushed for reforms to increase transparency for subcommittees that have met behind closed doors. The board on Thursday unanimously approved changes to make more of those meetings more public.
Anderson’s office said he is now working on a board proposal that, among other changes, would also require updates to the full board on work that outside consultants are doing for subcommittees. He expects to bring the proposal to the board in August.
“There’s no possibility of secrecy when a vendor/contractor reports to the entire board,” Anderson wrote in a statement.
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San Diego, CA
Streetsblog San Diego Launches July 27 — Help Us Build the Future of Transportation Journalism – Streetsblog California
For years, Streetsblog readers in Southern California have asked us the same question: “When are you coming to San Diego?”
Friends…we’re excited to announce that we have an answer: Streetsblog San Diego will officially launch on July 27. Excited? Consider making a donation to help us lift off…
The new site will cover transportation, housing, climate, public space, safe streets, transit, and active transportation issues across San Diego County, and some of its neighbors. From bike lane projects and transit expansions to housing near transit and climate policy, Streetsblog San Diego will provide the kind of accountability journalism and solutions-focused reporting that has made Streetsblog a trusted voice across California.
What’s especially exciting about this launch is how it is coming together. You may have noticed over the last couple of months, increased local coverage in San Diego (collated here) as we’ve been getting ready for the launch.
We’ve been able to do that because Streetsblog San Diego is being built as a collaboration between leaders and volunteers from Streetsblog California, Bike SD, Ride SD, San Diego 350, and other community organizations and advocates who share a vision for safer, more sustainable transportation and land-use policies. At launch, much of our content will be produced by a growing team of volunteers and freelance contributors who care deeply about the future of San Diego’s streets, transit systems, and neighborhoods.
This community-powered model allows us to begin covering a region that desperately needs more transportation journalism while we work to build a sustainable long-term funding base.
But that’s where we need your help.
Launching a new newsroom takes resources. We launched a pre-fundraiser for “friends and family” of the core group that has been working on making Streetsblog SD a reality, and raised enough funding to cover the fees associated with the launch of the website, and put aside a couple hundred dollars towards our next goal: raising $18,000 for a freelance fund and short video fund that will ensure regular written and video coverage.
Even with volunteer writers and editors donating countless hours, there are still costs for freelance reporting, editing, website maintenance, photography, public records requests, event coverage, video production, and the many other expenses that go into producing quality journalism. There’s a lot of ways you can donate, if you’re interested in helping, you can get started here. If you’re one of those donors who gives through a DAF, the non profit that publishes Streetsblog is called the Southern California Streets Initiative and our EIN is 27-3421838. We are a federally recognized 501c(3) non-profit.
Your donation today will help us:
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In the long run, we will be seeking funds for a part-time or full-time editor. Every donation, no matter how large or small, will help us attract major donors, foundations, and advertisers so Streetsblog SD will be staffed similarly to the ones in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
The challenges facing San Diego are too important to ignore. The region is making critical decisions about transit investments, housing production, street safety, climate resilience, and public space. Residents deserve independent journalism that explains those decisions, holds decision-makers accountable, and highlights solutions that can improve people’s daily lives.
That’s what Streetsblog has done for two decades and what will do in San Diego
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