By Supervisor Joel Anderson
February 7, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) -- Recently, I joined thousands of volunteers across San Diego County in participating in the 2025 #WeAllCount Point-in-Time Count - San Diego County's annual homelessness census.
This was my fourth time participating in the count, which is crucial to collecting data on the number and needs of people experiencing homelessness in San Diego County. This data is used all year long to help our region make decisions on where and how to target and advocate for funding in our efforts to address homelessness countywide.
About 40 of us met at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in El Cajon at 3:30 a.m. and set out to locate and survey people living in encampments and along the riverbeds.
For me, this annual event is more than just a morning of data collection.
This count puts real faces and names behind San Diego County's homelessness crisis and creates a new sense of urgency for anyone who participates. Their stories have played a big role in informing my policies and ideas to address homelessness, and helping determine where we can improve.
Since taking office in 2021, we have successfully implemented several innovative programs to address homelessness throughout San Diego County, with a particular focus in East County.
These policies and programs include:
- Opening a Safe Parking lot in East County
- Successfully advocated for $850k from Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-51) for a Safe Parking lot in Grantville (opening soon)
- Creating a Memorandum of Understanding on addressing homeless between the County of San Diego and East County cities
- Launching the Shallow Rent Subsidy Program to keep seniors off the streets and their homes
- Successfully obtained $17M in funding from the CA Governor's Office to address homelessness along the San Diego Riverbed through a collective partnership between the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, Caltrans, and the City of Santee
- Initiating a housing match program for seniors looking to live with other seniors
- Empowering local churches and nonprofits to host temporary emergency shelter sleeping cabins on their properties through a county grant
Check out this video below to follow along with me throughout the morning and see what the count is all about!
The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
By Brenda Miller, PhD., R.N.
February 6, 2025 (La Mesa) -- When Benjamin Franklin included silence in his list of virtues, he termed it “golden.” Silence does not mean remaining quiet with respect to important issues but involves speaking after listening and thinking before speaking. That apparently is not the philosophy of Nadia Farjood, recently elected member of the Grossmont Healthcare District Board of Directors.
Prior to the January 7, 2025, board meeting, there was a barrage of rhetoric misleading the public on social media and in emails, petitions, and local organizations suggesting that the board did not want Nadia Farjood as a member. The rhetoric claimed the board was insensitive to needs of the public, purposely excluding community participation by holding meetings during the day; was racist, particularly with respect to membership by women of color; discriminated against young people, and so on. These unfounded accusations persist.
The criticisms of the board arose primarily out of Ms. Farjood’s failure to get the board to change meeting times to evenings to accommodate her personal schedule. According to change and group dynamics theories, someone entering a new environment should assess the environment before trying to make changes. This has not been Ms. Farjood’s approach. She rarely attended board meetings before and during the election campaign and missed a prime opportunity to understand the workings of the board and prepare for her role as a member. Because she was not present, she did not realize that, to reach out to the community, the board changed meeting times on a bimonthly basis from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. After an extended time without any increase in public attendance, the board returned to the prior 9:00 a.m. time slot.
Now, Ms. Farjood is engaging in divisive rhetoric that promotes conflict, which she could have avoided with an effective assessment of the environment prior to trying to enforce changes. Perhaps she should reflect more deeply on the concept of silence as a virtue until she understands the issue about which she wishes to speak and the position she fought hard to successfully win.
Brenda Miller is a registered nurse with PhD and Masters degrees in nursing. She ran against Nadia Farjood in the November 2024 election for the Grossmont Healthcare District board seat.
The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
By Laura Preble, El Cajon
October 28, 2024 (El Cajon) -- As a 20-year veteran of Grossmont Union High School district (West Hills and Monte Vista High School), I want to strongly urge East County voters to elect Jay Steiger and Chris Fite to the school board.
The incumbents running have done numerous things this year to make the district unsafe and unworkable. They do not deserve to be re-elected. First, they eliminated all of the TOSA (teacher on special assignment) positions at the district level. As a person who worked with students and teachers directly, I can tell you that these TOSA staff were instrumental in making sure students and teachers kept up with the latest technology, both hardware and software. Eliminating these positions ensures that teachers won’t be able to use new technology nor troubleshoot problems, and therefore students will miss out. These incumbents chose NOT to listen to employees who directly work with students, opting instead for ‘cost savings’ that no one can seem to explain.
They also TOTALLY ELIMINATED the district School Safety department. In an era when school shootings are all too common, why would these board members think getting rid of comprehensive safety planning is a good idea? The School Safety department is integral to the safety and well-being of employees and students, and for anyone in a position to make that decision to choose to just get rid of it is puzzling and troubling. I have huddled with students in lockdown because of the threat of gun violence. We’ve had two deadly gun violence incidents at our schools. I absolutely cannot understand the reasoning behind this decision, other than perhaps the trustees are hoping to decrease enrollment and lessen the number of employees?
Please vote for Jay Steiger and Chris Fite for Grossmont Union school board. We need board members who care about our teachers and our kids.
The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.