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Politics

Barrio Logan Strongly Disagreed With San Diego Voters

Two voting precincts encompass nearly all the residential areas of Barrio Logan (outlined in black). The precinct outlined in red contains most residential areas. The precinct outlined in blue contains nearly all the remainder.
Joe Yerardi
Two voting precincts encompass nearly all the residential areas of Barrio Logan (outlined in black). The precinct outlined in red contains most residential areas. The precinct outlined in blue contains nearly all the remainder.

While San Diegans overwhelmingly rejected the two propositions implementing a new Barrio Logan Community Plan, an inewsource analysis of preliminary precinct-level voting results confirms the area’s residents saw things differently.

According to preliminary results (there are still 94,000 mail and provisional ballots outstanding), Propositions B and C failed by margins of 58 percent to 42 percent and 61 percent to 40 percent, respectively.

They passed overwhelmingly, however, in the precincts that cover Barrio Logan, a low-income, mostly Latino neighborhood on San Diego Bay that has long been the center of the ship-building industry.

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The vote on Propositions B and C marked the first time a neighborhood’s community plan was put before a citywide vote.

INTERACTIVE: Click here for a searchable, interactive map of election results by precinct

Of the city’s 697 voting precincts, 418 rejected both propositions, 42 rejected or tied on one proposition while approving or tying on the other and 163 approved both propositions. Seventy-four vote-by-mail precincts registered no votes cast on either proposition.

Said another way, among those precincts that cast votes in the election, only 26 percent voted to approve both measures.

Among those were the two voting precincts that encompass nearly all the residential areas of Barrio Logan.

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In the precinct that encompasses the majority of the residential area of Barrio Logan, extending south from Commercial Street to San Diego Bay and west from the border of Logan Heights to the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, Proposition B passed with 69 percent of the vote. Proposition C passed with 66 percent of the vote.

The precinct located immediately to its east encompasses almost all of the remaining residential area of Barrio Logan: the narrow stretch extending east from 28th Street to Interstate 15 and south from Interstate 5 to Main Street. In addition to the areas in Barrio Logan, the precinct extends north to Ocean View Boulevard and south to San Diego Bay. That precinct passed Proposition B with 58 percent of the vote. Proposition C passed with 54 percent of the vote.

Residents and environmental groups have blamed the ship-building industry and Interstate 5, which bisects the neighborhood, for pollution and health problems.

The city began working on an update of the Barrio Logan community plan six years ago, and last year the City Council passed a zoning plan that would have separated industry and residences by creating a “buffer zone” between them. No new industries would be allowed to move into the buffer zone.

That buffer zone, which would have separated housing from heavy industry, was contentious.

After the council vote, the ship-building industry and its political allies gathered the signatures necessary to get the rezoning plan on the ballot.

The 2024 primary election is March 5. Find in-depth reporting on each race to help you understand what's on your ballot.