San Diego is currently facing a lawsuit from the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF) for not meeting its greenhouse gas emission targets in the Mira Mesa community plan, a fast-growing suburban job center.
The plan approved by the City Council in January aims to reduce car commuting to the area, but CERF argues that it does not go far enough to meet Mayor Todd Gloria’s Climate Action Plan targets. Gloria’s plan commits the city to shift 50% of car commuters to walking, cycling, or public transit, but the Mira Mesa plan falls short of that goal, and CERF alleges that it will be impossible to meet the 2035 target of 50% non-auto commute if commuting patterns in Mira Mesa and other job-heavy suburban areas in San Diego County continue.
The lack of affordable housing in San Diego is another critical issue that voters have long been critical of, and the high cost of living driven by high rental and housing prices is a significant contributor to this problem. San Diego’s policies on environmental regulation are hurting housing development, and the Mira Mesa plan, which aims to limit car commuting by adding more housing to the neighborhood than jobs, still falls short of what is needed to address the housing crisis.
Mayor Gloria’s inability to implement his ideas and policies has also frustrated San Diego voters. His focus on climate change and environmental regulation is not what the people want, and his policies have not been able to follow through, which is producing the opposite of what he promised. The policies of San Diego’s Democrats contradict each other, and the recent environmental lawsuit against the city underscores this fact. The inability of the city’s leaders to address these issues is a major concern for constituents.
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