After a hiatus of nearly half a year, most of our San Carlos Area Council board members, along with some neighbors, came to Tuxedo Park on Aug. 30 to speak with mayoral candidate Barbara Bry.

Over the past weeks, Bry has been visiting San Diego neighborhoods to talk to community members about the issues affecting them. Socially distanced and wearing masks, we conversed about pot holes, infrastructure, weed and canyon maintenance for wildfire-prone areas, the long overdue new library, and what’s happening at 101 Ash Street, a building purchased by the City of San Diego (before Bry was elected to City Council) that has sat unoccupied for the past four years but for which citizens are doling out $18,000 per day.

The conversation turned to the topic of affordable housing and how developers have been buying up single-home properties and erecting four- and eight-plex units. Even with the housing shortage crisis, nobody in any San Diego neighborhood wants more population, congestion and traffic in their single-family-zoned residential neighborhoods.

As you may know, SCAC’s mission is not to make political endorsements but to facilitate education about our local candidates and propositions so that you can be well informed when you make decisions at the ballot box. As an observation, this is the first time I have ever seen a mayoral candidate go out to each and every one of San Diego’s “hamlets” and seek out feedback from community members, especially during these pandemic times.

Mayoral candidate Todd Gloria is also welcome to visit San Carlos. We will let you know if and when that happens.

SCAC meetings are now on hiatus until further notice. If you have a San Carlos story to share, please contact Patricia Mooney at [email protected].

— Patricia Mooney is vice president of the San Carlos Area Council.