By JAY WILSON

The next meeting of the Del Cerro Action Council is Thursday, July 25, 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Our guest speaker will be Roberto Garcia, partnership specialist, U.S. Census Bureau. He will present a program about the 2020 census, its importance on all levels and our ability to respond digitally for the first time.

The results of the census will be used by the redistricting committee, selected by the city of San Diego, in redistricting the population to determine the new boundaries of the nine City Council districts. The duty of the redistricting committee is to balance out the population so that each of the nine districts has approximately the same number of residents in each.

Just as an FYI, the initial council boundaries proposed by the redistricting committee following the 2010 census for the Navajo communities were to have Grantville, Allied Gardens and Del Cerro in one City Council district and San Carlos in another. In 2011, John Pilch, a long-time San Carlos and Navajo area community leader who passed away in May of 2016, and I attended every one of the meetings; one was eight hours long. We lobbied diligently to have all four communities in the Navajo area remain in the same district. In the end, we were successful. Following the final decision of the committee members, John and I were informed that if we had not lobbied as we did, our communities would not have remained in the same council district.

A big thank you to Tracy Dahlkamp and her Fourth of July Lake Murray Fireworks and MusicFest Committee for producing another great event. And another sincere thank you to all of the residents and local businesses, and to District 7 Councilmember Scott Sherman for all the funds that were contributed to reach the $85,000 goal. Tracy, who spearheaded bringing back the event in 2017, has already indicated the committee is ready and planning on the event for July 4, 2020.

The All Peoples Church project has been submitted to the city and upon receipt of the first cycles report, which is the city’s response to the project as submitted, there will be follow-up meetings with residents about the project and the results of input from residents adjacent to the project.

The fire season is upon us and the city of San Diego’s Fire-Rescue Department is urging all of us to be fire safe. The city has published a new version of Ready, Set, Go — a personal guide to wildland fire protection. Here is the URL to access the publication: bit.ly/2Jvhotg. Take the time to make certain your home and neighborhood is prepared should there be a fire in any of the canyons surrounding Del Cerro.

Mark your calendar for Thursday, July 28, 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El for the next meeting of the Del Cerro Action Council.

— Jay Wilson is secretary of the Del Cerro Action Council. Visit delcerroactioncouncil.org.