San Diego City Councilman David Alvarez is leaving his job representing southern communities such as Barrio Logan and San Ysidro after eight years.
It's unclear what he'll do next — he ran for the San Diego Community College District board and lost.
On a rainy morning last week, Alvarez's office was a mess. He had pulled everything down off the bookshelves, and it was now covering his desk.
He and his staff worked to box up the documents that had passed through their office in the past eight years to all be archived by the City Clerk.
Alvarez took a break from packing for this exit interview.
The San Diego City Council's Rules Committee advanced a proposal from Councilman David Alvarez to increase the city's hotel tax by one cent in order to fund homelessness services. "To me there's a very clear nexus between promoting San Diego as a destination and making sure we have programs in place to ensure we don't have outbreaks, such as hepatitis A, or other dangerous pathogens," Alvarez said.
Read MoreThe San Diego City Council’s Infrastructure Committee voted Wednesday to move forward with budget adjustments that would fund renovations to the city-leased 101 Ash Street office building, which has been the subject of delays and tens of millions of dollars in projected cost overruns. The committee vote was 3-1, with Councilman David Alvarez casting the dissenting vote. “We were told we were getting something that we did not get or come close to getting. Now I’m supposed to trust we’re supposed to get this other thing for this cost, and I have a hard time actually believing that,” he said.
Read MoreCommunity members have complained for decades about San Ysidro's infrastructure. Old and inadequate streets and the absence of sidewalks and pedestrian pathways were mentioned in the community plan when it was revised in 1990. Since taking office in early December, Councilman Alvarez says most of the calls he’s received from San Ysidro residents have concerned infrastructure. “This is supposed to be the international gateway— America’s front door —but look around at the sidewalks and the streets,” he says. “No one really feels like it’s a gateway. How could they?”
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