By Megan Burks
Attorney, Azalea Park Resident Join Race for District 9
We learned yesterday two more candidates have entered the race for District 9. Attorney Araceli Martinez and City Heights resident Katherine Eaton will run against Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who announced her bid last week.
Martinez specializes in family law and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She is associated with several labor-backed groups, including her husband’s ironworkers union and the San Diego Middle Class Taxpayers Association.
According to The Daily Transcript, Martinez moved from Calexico, Calif., to attend San Diego State University and California Western School of Law. She has a daughter with autism, inspiring her to serve on an advisory committee on special education for the San Diego Unified School District.
Eaton lives in Azalea Park and is on the City Heights Redevelopment Project Area Committee, a community group that provides resident input on redevelopment projects in the neighborhood.
At recent redistricting hearings, Eaton spoke out against severing City Heights from the gay community in District 3. She said she was “uneasy about dividing communities based on race and culture” and preferred keeping District 3 ethnically diverse with the inclusion of City Heights.
Emerald has served as the City Council representative for District 7, which includes the northeast corner of City Heights, since 2008. Prior to taking office, she was a broadcast journalist for 30 years. She had to sell her Tierrasanta home following the death of her husband, and now lives in the College Area.
City Heights must vote for a new representative next year because its political boundaries were redrawn to reflect new population figures. City Heights is no longer split among three districts, now making up most of District 9. About half of voting-age adults in the new district are Latino, but only 25 percent are registered to vote.
Find Araceli Marinez on Facebook.
Was Emerald’s Email a Campaign No-No?
Emerald caught heat this week for using her city email to announce her bid for District 9. The municipal code states candidates cannot engage in any campaign-related activities using city resources.
Emerald’s chief of staff, Don Mullen, told the San Diego Union-Tribune the email detailing her candidacy was official city business because it informed residents and the press of her decision to leave District 7. Emerald’s office promised to answer queries about the sale of her home and plans for reelection once redistricting was finished.
The city’s Ethics Commission has not commented on the case.
Follow Marti Emerald @MartiEmeraldD7.
Gloria Breaks Out the Moving Boxes
Councilman Todd Gloria has avoided campaign lapses by using Twitter and Facebook to keep current and future constituents informed of his intentions to run in District 3. Reelection there means he must move from his City Heights home, which is no longer in the district following redistricting. He’s already packing boxes.
The Union-Tribune caught his appeal to friends with pick-up trucks on Facebook over the weekend.
“All friends with trucks, you have been warned,” he wrote under a picture of moving boxes.
Follow Todd Gloria @ToddGloria.
Help Shape Redevelopment in City Heights
You, too, can run for public office in City Heights—minus the fancy campaign and public scrutiny.
Nine seats are open on the City Heights Redevelopment Project Area Committee, which provides community input on redevelopment plans for the neighborhood. The committee is looking for homeowners, renters, business owners and people involved with local organizations to help shape the community.
Elections are scheduled for Oct. 10. You have until 5 p.m. Oct. 6 to register your bid.
Marti Emerald often lists opportunities and events like this on her Facebook page.
Last of California Dream Act Passes the Senate
The Senate approved AB 131 Wednesday. The bill is the final piece of the California Dream Act and would grant publicly funded financial aid such as Cal Grants to undocumented students.
The bill now goes back to the Assembly, which previously approved it, for concurrence on Senate amendments. If approved there once more, it heads to the governor’s desk for a signature.
The first half of the California Dream Act, which granted private aid to undocumented students, became law last month.
Follow Gil Cedillo, the Los Angeles assemblyman who penned the California Dream Act, @gilcedillo.