Stay Informed and Take Action
Public Policies
Public Policies
Impact Our Lives
Today, government affects all aspects of our lives. Everyone has a stake in the public policies enacted by federal, state, and local governments. Public policy is best described as the broad area of government laws, regulations, court decisions, and local ordinances. Below we provide resources to help you navigate, stay informed and engaged. Our nine focus areas are; Environment, Criminal Justice Reform, Voting Rights, Diversity, Reproductive Freedom, LGBTQ+ Gender Fairness, Housing Mandate, Gun Safety Measures – Public Safety, and Immigration Rights.
Take Action
Stop the Sewage
Impassioned citizens and leaders of Coronado and Imperial Beach gathered at Central Beach on Friday, September 1, 2023, to call for a State of Emergency Declaration regarding the cross border sewage crisis affecting our ocean and beaches. See our protests.
DEMAND clean, safe sewage-free beaches and water for our kids, our Navy Seals, our First Responders, visitors, and ocean life. We are DONE with promises and demand immediate action from Governor Newsom NOW. https://www.gov.ca.gov/contact/
December 30, 2023 Update:
S.D. nonprofit groups to sue federal commission over sewage from Mexico–Claim IBWC is violating Clean Water Act in failing to stop flow of pollution
December 15, 2023 Update:
20-minute documentary on our Pollution Crisis! – The Coronado News years-long and still ongoing investigative project to educate the audience and hopefully act as a call for action.
December 14, 2023 Update:
“We struggle…we grab water from a pipe“ – The Coronado News as part of its years-long investigation into the sewage crisis, spent time in Tijuana to see how residents cope with it.
December 4, 2023 Update:
Plans for urgent South Bay waste water plant revealed – Dr. Maria-Elena Giner provided an update on desperately-needed repairs of a wastewater plant in the South Bay.
Our nine focus areas:
Environment
https://oursharedseas.com/sewage-pollution-primer/
This is a global problem, with equally significant challenges in high-, middle-, and low-income countries alike. Sewage makes up the largest percentage of coastal pollution worldwide. Globally, an estimated 80 percent of sewage is discharged into the environment untreated.
https://thecoronadonews.com/category/news/investigations
Promises, Promises: Bitter feuding, wasted money and treaty violations equals no sewage solution.
The world is experiencing a surge in extremely hot days that put human health at risk, with the threat concentrated in some of the places least prepared to cope, according to an analysis of climate data by The Washington Post and CarbonPlan, a nonprofit that develops publicly available climate data and analytics.
Governments around the world are introducing single-use plastic product bans to alleviate pollution.
https://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=79168\
The federally funded center, to be based at SDSU Mission Valley, will lead a network of partners to connect underserved communities with resources for energy and environmental justice.
https://citizensclimatelobby.org
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a climate change organization that exists to create the political will for a livable world by enabling individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power.
Criminal Justice Reform
https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/622-criminal-justice-reform
Since 2014, The Marshall Project has been curating some of the best criminal justice reporting from around the web. In these records you will find the most recent and the most authoritative articles on the topics, people and events that are shaping the criminal justice conversation.
Lead sponsors of the landmark First Step Act are working to continue to make our justice system fairer and our communities safer
On April 27th, 1946, Coronado African American resident Alton Collier boarded an 8 pm ferry to meet up with friends in San Diego. A targeted racist attack on board ended in his death.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/05/31/supreme-court-stephen-breyer-abortion-death-penalty
The retired justice spoke with The Marshall Project on abortion, the death penalty and the court’s reputation.
https://www.alliancesd.org/forms/shares/new?page_id=3443
Alliance San Diego sent a letter to President Biden urging him to do more to protect our human rights so all of us can participate with dignity in an inclusive democracy. Alliance was compelled to write this letter because of tragic and ongoing violations of human rights by law enforcement in the United States.
https://calmatters.org/prisons/2023/02/how-many-prisons-does-california-need/
The potential closures signal a sea change in California criminal justice, representing the wind-down of the tough-on-crime policies that packed prisons in the 1990s and offering one of the few ways the state can cut costs in its $18 billion prison system.
The SANDAG Regional Criminal Justice Research & Clearinghouse Division assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of crime control programs to inform local criminal justice planning and policymaking. By seeking and securing research funds from state and federal sources, SANDAG analyzes crime patterns, crime-reduction strategies, and responses to the region’s crime.
Voting Rights
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/05/court-picks-alabamas-new-congressional-map-00120129
The new map came after the same panel of federal judges twice found that lines drawn by the GOP-dominated Legislature likely violated the Voting Rights Act by weakening the power of Black voters.
https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy and the fundamental right upon which all our civil liberties rest. The ACLU works to protect and expand Americansʼ freedom to vote.
https://thecoronadonews.com/2023/03/op-ed-partisan-politics-have-no-place-in-local-elections
These elections should be focused on issues of importance to Coronado, not furthering any national political agenda. We must foster neighbor-to-neighbor dialog, not advance political polarization.
https://www.sdvote.com/content/rov/en/outreach/accessible_voting.html
Check out the County’s website for questions regarding voting.
https://www.lwv.org/voting-rights
Voting is a fundamental principle, and all Americans deserve the equal opportunity to make their voices heard in our democracy. We are dedicated to using advocacy, litigation, and resources like VOTE411 to include more voters, expand and protect voter access, and ensure that elections remain fair and accessible.
City Council Approves Coronado’s Climate Action Plan
https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-voting-prison-inmates/
Proposed amendment to the state constitution would allow people to cast ballots while they are still in state prisons.
https://www.letmevoteca.org/about-us/
The ACLU of California Voting Rights Project works to protect and expand Americans’ freedom to vote. We advance the democratic process by reducing barriers to registration and turnout among under-represented groups. We’ve been fighting voter suppression in the courts, Congress, and state and local legislatures for decades.
Diversity
“From Temecula to Tallahassee, fringe ideologues across the country are attempting to whitewash history and ban books from schools,” Newsom said in a statement.
Model legislation provides an ideological justification for deconstructing the infrastructure that supports critical race theory.
Students at Carlsbad High School walked out of class Tuesday morning to protest recent actions by their vice principal and the Carlsbad Unified School District.
https://coronadousd.net/departments/student-services/equity/
Per the California Department of Education, Equity is “Fair outcomes, treatment, and opportunities for all students.” This is the definition implemented by the Staff within Coronado Unified School District.
Council divided over using Oakland model, which brings students, nonprofit leaders into selection process
https://www.adl.org/resources/report/audit-antisemitic-incidents-2022
In 2022, ADL tabulated 3,697 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States. This is a 36% increase from the 2,717 incidents tabulated in 2021 and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979. This is the third time in the past five years that the year-end total has been the highest number ever recorded.
https://www.sandiego.edu/news/detail.php?_focus=88116
Through his work with the consulting firm he co-founded, Ed Simon is often faced with companies that say they want to embrace diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI) initiatives but are hesitant to enact them.
https://calmatters.org/multimedia/interactives/2023/01/california-legislature-legislators-like-you/
The new state Legislature is the most diverse ever, but by some measures, it still isn’t fully representative of California. See details in our interactive tool.
Reproductive Freedom
https://indivisible.org/campaign/abortion-reproductive-freedom
Democrats must fight back against abortion bans and work to pass federal legislation to protect reproductive freedom for all
https://reproductiverights.org/zurawski-v-texas-new-plaintiffs/
Hospitals and doctors’ fear of liability under Texas’s state abortion bans is leading them to deny medically necessary care, putting patients’ health, fertility and lives at risk.
https://www.au.org/how-we-protect-religious-freedom/issues/reproductive-rights/
Reproductive freedom is religious freedom.
The Alliance is a non-partisan coalition of 21 Governors committed to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom in their states, the largest such coalition ever convened.
Since Roe v. Wade was Overturned: At Least Eighteen States Have Eliminated All or Some Access to Abortion; Republicans in New Congress Have Passed Anti-Abortion Measures; Court Poised to Eliminate Access to Medication Abortion Nationwide.
Building on her successful 2022 legislation to broaden reproductive care access, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) has introduced legislation to expand and modernize reproductive care training for physician assistants.
https://www.hrw.org/topic/womens-rights/reproductive-rights-and-abortion
Human Rights Watch investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. We are roughly 550 plus people of 70-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect the most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime, to refugees and children in need.
LGBTQ+ Gender Fairness
It’s part of a larger trend across the nation to skirt local and state laws protections for LGBTQ+ students.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/discrimination/lgbti-rights/
Discrimination on the basis of one’s sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression and sex characteristics, can have a devastating effect on physical, mental and emotional well being for those forced to endure it.
The new Mesa College Pride Center opened on campus Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023 offering service and support to LGBTQ students.
https://www.aclusocal.org/en/know-your-rights/lgbtq-student-rights
Bullying, physical threats, hate-graffiti or name-calling of LGBTQ students is harassment, and is no joke. The good news, however, is that California has laws designed to help and protect LGBTQ youth.
https://www.unicef.org/gender-equality
Girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities every day – in textbooks, in the media and among the adults who care for them.
https://calmatters.org/newsletters/2023/02/gay-marriage-california-constitutional-amendment/
California Democrats want to change the state constitution to safeguard a right that is already firmly protected across the state, just in case the U.S. Supreme Court decides to do away with it.
Housing Mandate
https://www.coronado.ca.us/264/Housing-Element-Update
Visit the City’s webpage to learn what the City is doing in 2023/24 to update the plan.
A series of questions at a hearing of a proposal pushed by the mayor and a councilman to ban encampments in most public spaces revealed a new chapter in San Diego’s response to homelessness.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a letter to the mayor of Elk Grove putting the city on notice that its denial of a proposed supportive housing project in the City’s Old Town Special Planning Area (OTSPA) violates state laws including Senate Bill 35 (SB 35), the Housing Accountability Act (HAA), and fair housing laws intended to prohibit discriminatory land use practices.
The Alliance is a non-partisan coalition of 21 Governors committed to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom in their states, the largest such coalition ever convened.
http://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-housing-crisis-law/
Modeled in part on a civil rights law from Massachusetts, Wiener’s five-year-old law presented an ultimatum for local governments hostile to new development: Either start permitting enough new homes to meet the state’s housing goals — or start fast-tracking new apartments, so long as they meet a set of basic qualifications.
Gun Safety Measures - Public Safety
https://www.everytown.org/?akid=295299.10620072.vpWzs-&rd=1&t=1
In 2022, there were nearly 78,000 licensed gun dealers in the United States—more than all McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and Wendy’s locations combined. This report spells out the basic facts about licensed dealers and the relationship between these dealers and gun crimes.
We are in the middle of a full-on state of emergency!
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/
What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.
The president commemorated the killing of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/
The research is clear: gun laws work. The nation’s courts agree: gun laws are fully compatible with the Second Amendment. And the American people have spoken: our weak gun safety laws are killing nearly 40,000 Americans every year. Something must change.
San Diego County recently paid out $12 million to the family of a man who died while in restraints in 2015, one of eight deaths that have occurred when people were restrained since 2001.
In the wake of multiple mass shootings that took the lives of 19 Californians in just 72 hours last week, Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Senator Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) announced new gun safety legislation to modernize and strengthen California’s public carry laws.
https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/public_safety/gun-violence-reduction-project.html
The County of San Diego wants to reduce gun violence. To better understand the impact gun violence is having on our communities and what solutions our communities would like to see, the County is conducting a gun violence community needs assessment. This assessment is being conducted between September 2022 – June 2023.
To view the community forum presentation, please click the link below. The presentation includes some preliminary findings from the community needs assessment. It’s important to note that the forum presentation does not include all areas of analysis from the assessment, but much of them. The full analysis will be available in the final report.
Immigration Rights
Protecting Access to Education for Migratory Children – A Resource for Families and Educators
U.S. Border Patrol is building two 30-foot border walls across Friendship Park, the historic binational meeting place overlooking the Pacific Ocean south of San Diego.
Advocates of Friendship Park have stepped up protest efforts against the government’s plan to strengthen fencing in the area.
https://www.friendshippark.org
The Friends of Friendship Park work to enhance public access to this historic meeting place on the US-Mexico border.
https://www.aclu.org/other/rights-immigrants-aclu-position-paper
Since this nation’s founding, more than 55 million immigrants from every continent have settled in the United States. In fact, with the exception of Native Americans, everyone living in this country is either an immigrant or the descendent of voluntary or involuntary immigrants. Yet every wave of immigration has faced fear and hostility, especially during times of economic hardship, political turmoil, or war.
If the construction of the border fence gets completed, what was once a beautiful vista filled with joy, family and love will become an ugly metaphor for the state of immigration policy in this country.
Other - Homelessness
Bailey, a Republican, recently has been making the rounds on national and local conservative-leaning media outlets, including Fox News and KUSI, touting his city’s progress. He says Coronado has hit on the solution to homelessness and others should follow it. He doesn’t mention a key to this success is shipping people out of town, nor the relatively minor scope of the problem.
https://timesofsandiego.com/author/ben-christopher/
Gov. Gavin Newsom has scolded cities and counties for failing to get more people off the street, hundreds of millions in state spending notwithstanding. “Californians demand accountability and results, not settling for the status quo,” the governor said last November.
In Sacramento, there’s a word that keeps popping up during discussions about the state’s homelessness crisis: “accountability.”
These are op-eds from formerly unhoused residents who are members of Voices of Our City Choir.