A local activist Wednesday urged the San Diego City Council to override four line-item vetoes including brush management and community funding, which Mayor Todd Gloria highlighted in the 2025-26 fiscal budget.
Shane Harris, president of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates, made his requests in a memo to council President Council President Joe LaCava and his colleagues.
Harris also held a news conference earlier Wednesday outside of the City Hall, and posted to the X social media platform.
LIVE: @ShaneHarrisNow to make a San Diego City budget announcement live from city hall calling on the San Diego City Council to override some of the Mayor's proposed line item vetoes in the coming budget year t.co/aZgziGnEFU
— Shane Rashad Harris (@shaneharrisnow) June 18, 2025Gloria on Tuesday said he supports restoring hours at recreation centers, libraries and two reservoirs, but issued line-item vetoes of several spending items.
In a statement, Gloria’s office said the mayor’s action “delivers core neighborhood services for residents while supporting the city of San Diego’s long-term fiscal stability and meeting his commitment to confront the city’s long-standing structural budget deficit.”
Gloria said the budget actions protect public safety and preserve jobs and neighborhood services, while making it less likely the city will face a deficit in the coming years.
The San Diego City Council on June 10 voted 7-2 to approve a $6 billion budget that cut library hours on Sundays while not filling certain executive positions, but it restored some recreation center hours, Monday library hours at select branches and lake access.
The City Charter gives the council five business days, or until June 26, from Wednesday — when Gloria issued a memo — to sustain or override the veto. An override will require the approval of six of the nine council members.
Harris said he wants the council to restore $900,000 for council district community budgets, funding for the chief operating officer position and at least $500,000 in brush management enforcement.
Cutting the $900,000 could “impact residents directly and nonprofits who assist them, especially during a time when it is unclear how much support these same organizations will get from Washington, D.C. or Sacramento,” Harris said.
Harris said the COO job was important, because he believes Gloria “doesn’t know how to run a large-scale organizational operation like the city of San Diego, particularly during a budget crisis.”
The additional money for brush management is needed, “especially considering what happened with the (Los Angeles) fires and the expected heatwave to hit San Diego this summer,” Harris said.
Harris said he supports the council’s removing middle-management positions, such as the Compliance Department deputy director and two deputy chief operating officers.
He noted the $1.4 million cost “could have been reinvested in our annual budget.”
“Let me be clear: I am thankful that your council led us to restore library hours and keep our lakes and recreation facilities open,” Harris stated in the memo. “I am thankful that Mayor Gloria supports those efforts in his final released budget.
“However, after reviewing the line-item vetoes released by the mayor’s office on Tuesday, I am also feeling that council offices are being punished for advancing restorations in library hours, rec centers and lakes,” Harris added.
In the memo, Harris said he understood that council members may have concerns with a veto override but is nevertheless calling on them to do it.
“I believe that most of you fought for these things and firmly believed that these were the right actions to take,” Harris stated. “What would you do if a Republican did this? Would you override? Your residents are watching.”
According to his office, Gloria vetoed several expenditures approved by the council:
$900,000 for Community Projects, Programs and Services, as the amount is “better reallocated to citywide priorities,” according to Gloria’s office. $450,000 for Arts, Culture, and Community Festivals, a discretionary fund for individual council offices. $225,000 for the chief operating officer position, which Gloria’s office said he eliminated in February to streamline executive management and reduce overhead costs. $450,000 for two management positions in the Office of Race and Equity, which Gloria’s office said are unnecessary to maintain progress on ensuring city processes, hiring and resource allocations. $757,156 for stormwater contingency funding, which Gloria’s office said “lacked an identified need at this time” and wouldn’t result in any new stormwater projects. $1.1 million for brush management enforcement, which Gloria’s office said the council didn’t identify as a majority-supported expenditure modification, nor recommended by the independent budget analyst. $250,000 for the multi-disciplinary outreach team, which the mayor said he doesn’t support, adding that outreach base funding will remain in the new budget. $208,000 for recreation programming at city lakes, other than Miramar and Murray, which are heavily used and received the most public feedback, Gloria’s office said. $95,000 for a short-term rental occupancy nexus study, which “is premature and an unnecessary cost at this time,” Gloria’s office said.Gloria also vetoed a number of City Council-approved personnel reductions “to preserve five positions he has determined to be critical to operations, four of which are currently filled by city employees,” according to his office.
The positions are:
media services coordinator in the Communications Department, costing $160,000. Communications Department’s media services manager, $167,000. Compliance Department deputy director, $278,713. two deputy chief operating officers, $800,000.City News Service contributed to this article.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Shane Harris urges City Council to override some of mayor’s proposed vetoes )
Also on site :