San Diego City Council Meeting - May 19, 2026
San Diego City Council Meeting - May 19, 2026
The San Diego City Council met on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, beginning at 9:00 AM and reconvening at 2:00 PM. The meeting opened with remarks from Council President LaCava and councilmembers mourning a deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego the previous day, in which three lives were lost, including a security guard who prevented further casualties. The council then proceeded with proclamations, consent calendar, public comment, and afternoon agenda items including a salary ordinance and a land use appeal.
Consent Calendar
- Proclamations (items 30-32, 34-38, S500-S502) were approved unanimously after public comment and councilmember remarks. Items 33 and 39 were returned to staff.
- Consent agenda (items 100-104, S504, S505) was approved 6-0, with Councilmembers Ila Rivera, Campillo, and Von Wilpert absent. Item 50 was returned to staff. Item S504 (salary ordinance) was pulled and trailed to the afternoon session. Councilmember Moreno and Foster registered no votes on S504 in the consent block due to concerns about a car allowance for executive staff.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Proclamations: Multiple speakers spoke in favor of various proclamations, including honoring Pastor Tomasha Billy Spears (item S502) and recognizing the importance of Buddhist, Filipino American, and EMS contributions.
- Consent items: Speakers addressed grants, wildfire prevention, parks foundation donations, and a bridge program. One speaker urged the council to consider salary cuts for city workers as a budget measure.
- Non-Agenda Public Comment: Approximately 10 speakers addressed topics including a confidential settlement involving Councilmember Von Wilpert ($50,000 taxpayer payout), a building permit dispute, enforcement against illegal kratom and flavored tobacco sales, the city's structural budget deficit, license plate readers in the context of the shooting, marijuana impairment and public safety, smoke-free policies, and opposition to normalizing high-potency cannabis. Several speakers expressed condolences for the shooting and called for unity.
- Item 331 (Appeal): Public testimony included opposition from adjacent property owner Lynn Shenck and others who cited lack of transparency, drainage concerns, grading impacts, and failure to disclose ownership. The La Jolla Shores PDO Advisory Board had voted 5-0 against the project, while the Community Planning Association voted 7-4 in favor.
Discussion Items
- Item S504 – Salary Ordinance (Second Reading): Council President LaCava moved approval, with Councilmember Campbell seconding after receiving a commitment from the administration to modify and reduce car allowances before the June 16 amendment. Councilmembers Moreno and Foster opposed, citing fiscal irresponsibility and poor optics of adding executive perks while cutting services. The item passed 5-2, with Moreno and Foster dissenting; Ila Rivera and Von Wilpert absent.
- Item 331 – Appeal of 8303 La Jolla Shores Drive Project: The project proposes subdividing 4.45 acres into six residential lots with a total of seven dwelling units. The appellant (neighbors Arthur and Lynn DeCavanau) challenged the planning commission's approval on drainage adequacy and legal authority regarding a private roadway (Calle Frescota). Council President LaCava denied a request for continuance and, after extensive discussion, moved to deny the appeal and affirm the planning commission's decision with modified conditions (revised conditions 25, 26, 31, 45; new tentative map condition 28 and permit condition 50). The motion passed 7-0.
Key Outcomes
- Proclamations and consent agenda (except trailed item) approved unanimously.
- Item S504 (salary ordinance) approved 5-2; administration committed to revising car allowances by June 16.
- Appeal for 8303 La Jolla Shores Drive denied; project approved with staff's modified conditions.
- Meeting adjourned to the special council meeting on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 9:00 AM.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. I will now call the city council meeting of Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 to order. After yesterday's deadly shooting, I reaffirm our council's commitment to root out hate in any and every form. Hate may have no safe place in our city. As a city and a city council, we stand in solidarity with the Islamic Center, the San Diego, and the broader Muslim community. No, we are with you in your pain, we are with you in your weeping, and we are with you in your sorrow. Three lives were lost yesterday falling victim to senseless vile and hateful violence, including the life of a security guard whose heroism prevented additional loss of life. I am grateful to him and for the swift action of our first responders who secured the building and ensured a safe outcome for the children and school staff. My heart is with the families and loved ones of those lost and those affected by yesterday's tragic events. Please join me in a moment of silence. Would any of my colleagues like to share a few words? Councilmember Campbell. In the strongest terms, I condemn this act of anti-Islamic hate and all hate and all hate crimes. There's absolutely no place in San Diego for hate or violence of any kind. All San Diegans deserve dignity, respect, and safety. And we send our heartfelt sympathy to the families involved. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Campbell. Um, with that, clerk, please call the roll. If I may. Wait, yes, Councilmember Foster. Thank you, Council President, and my apologies for coming on the mic late. But I just want to take a moment. Yesterday's actions is just heartbreaking. And I think we have said over and over from this dais that there is no place for hate in San Diego but I think as much as we say that I think we all need to understand as San Diegans that our words matter no matter the challenges that we face the rhetoric that is being provided it has never been more divisive in my time in the 50 years that I've been walking what I'd like to think is the United States of America and um I just want to throw caution to the wind we can disagree on a policy but I'm just not understanding where the hate continues to come from. And so if we can as we continue to move forward and as we continue to look at how we make the United States a better place as we look to make the city of San Diego a better place. Please please let's spend more time. Loving our neighbors learning our neighbors accepting our neighbors all of us are different. I'd like to say all of us are custom made that's why you have your fingerprints I have my fingerprints we are going to be inherently different. But different is not wrong religious beliefs are not wrong. We must embrace and we must love on one another. The security guard that lost his life he was a district four resident and as the chief of police said yesterday he is a hero it's my understanding if he would not have intervened that potentially those shooters would have found their way to a classroom full of young kids and so I think we all need to understand that um and and again I just ask that we let's spend more time loving on one another and trying to understand one another and accepting one another no matter what the differences are. And thank you council president and thank you to our first responders and thank you to the families I can only imagine what the phone call could have been as a parent and you get that phone call of a situation like that happening with your kids. So my heart goes out to the community the entire city of San Diego and my heart goes out to um Mr Amin Abdullah and his family he had a family kids wife so thank you thank you for the courage but this is just a tragic a tragedy that we have to endure this so thank you Council President that concludes my comments thank you Councilmember Foster Council President Pro Tam Lee. Thank you, I'll just be short here but thank you for offering some remarks on behalf of the council and of course adjourning yesterday's meetings in light of everything taking place. I think as a parent, like many others um hearing the news, recognizing that uh it involved not just the mosque but a school, um, was very jarring. I think for many of us to see the images and videos of um children having to be evacuated and led to safety. Um I appreciate the words of councilmember Foster um because I think we we do talk a lot about hate, and we've seen it in its many forms in our community over the years, and I think there's no doubt in people's minds that what we've seen in terms of hate has risen, and it says a lot about where we are as a society and our need to respond. Um, there's one, there's something that I think we often say, which is that we have to be better than this. Um, and I just want to share the words from uh our arts commissioner from District 6, Dennis Desiduan, who was capturing this last night, some of his own thoughts, and he very simple, but he he noted that at some point we have to choose to be better than this. And for me, that single sentence has been quite profound because I think we all think we know what's right and wrong and how we can be better, but at the end of the day, there's a choice to be made, and um, it's not just whether folks are inflicting hate, it's also how we respond as a community, and especially in a time of mourning, how we choose to come together. So, and that's what I hope we continue to do as a city moving forward. Thank you. Thank you, Council President Pro Tem Lee. All right. With that, uh Clerk, please call the roll. Thank you, Council President. Councilmember Campbell here. Councilmember Whitburn here, Councilmember Foster, here, Councilmember Von Wilper. Council President Pro Tem Lee.
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