Newly elected San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas is set to deliver her first State of the County Address on Wednesday evening.
She is expected to focus on housing and homelessness as some of her top priorities — that’s welcome news for many affordable housing advocates.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation of San Diego executive director Ricardo Flores hopes to hear about changes in zoning to bring more density to neighborhoods.
“And not just in certain neighborhoods or on transit corridors, but in the county – how are we going to do that?" he said. "And how are we also going to think about tenant protections? I think that's another one that's really important here.”
Vargas is also expected to discuss food insecurity, mental health care, and public safety. Last month, in an informal meeting with reporters after she was elected board chair, Vargas said she would work to make resources available to communities who are on the front lines during the pandemic.
"It's going to be really important for us to do that and to make sure that we do everything that we can to close the gap of, particularly, the health care inequities that were exacerbated by the pandemic," Vargas said during that meeting.
She is also expected to talk more about the efforts to improve the local economy and workforce, transportation and infrastructure, plus a wide range of climate change goals.
"We are going to be looking at some of job creation and workforce development, especially around ... green technology and green energy. What does that look like for us as we're moving forward," Vargas said. "We have a couple of big board letters that we did in the last two years that we're now in the implementation facet of. So we're going to make sure that we're continuing to make sure that those are available and inclusive."
The State of the County Address is set to start at 6 p.m.
