USD Magazine Summer 2021

that were relevant and useful to a public sector environment. And that’s exactly what I got. I earned my diploma, walked off the stage and then went to work. I didn’t realize that you are the first Latino mayor of San Diego as well as the first openly-gay mayor. The New York Times ran a piece that said you may be the most powerful mayor that San Diego has ever had. Do you agree with that assessment? Well, no. The law hasn’t changed to give me any additional powers that the last group of several may- ors have had. It is true that that there’s a different political align- ment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean unanimity or that folks are on the same page. It’s very much part of my job to endeavor to bring us to the same page. But I think what the New York Times may have been referring to is an attitude or a set of priorities that I bring into this job: I want to pursue a big and bold agenda. I recognize this is a temp job; at best, I get eight years, so I’ve got to make the most of it. Coming from my background, I recognize what it is to use the tools and the resources that are available, and I can use them to improve the lives of many, many other people. Every day, I’ve got to come in and give it my best, because that might be the day that I can change the life of this person or that per- son. Think about Mayor O’Con- nor, all those years ago, deciding to host a mayor for a day contest. Then this kid from Clairemont, this nerdy kid who’s reading the newspaper, gets invited and I’m sitting in the council chambers. And here I am, 20-something years later, as an elected official. What’s your advice to students or those just out of college who are trying to rise to reach their dreams and pursue the kind of career that you’ve had, or in their own fields?

my first time there. Again, see it, be it, touch it, feel it, make it real. And third, USD — to be very direct — made it financially possible. My parents didn’t save for college and I was rapidly coming up against reality. I wrote the applications, I did the essays, I took the SAT, I found the money to pay for the applications. But then I had to start figuring out how I was going to pay for this. I got into a number of schools. I was very fortunate, but USD was the only one that was going to make it financially possible. I was happy to assume the financial burden for myself, but I didn’t want to put that burden on my parents, knowing how much they had worked to put the possibility for me to go to college in me. And I also had a notion that I wanted to do pub- lic service and I understood that you don’t go into public service to get rich. You sure as heck can’t do it with heavy student loans, plus your rent. Growing up the way I did, I understood quickly what it costs to live. When I got the letter about getting a provost scholarship to attend USD, I know it was a massive relief to my parents who would have done anything to make it possible for me to at- tend. But to be able to do it with- out having to burden them tre- mendously financially … it was an iterative process, going from a little boy in my grandmother’s backyard to that letter in the mail that brought me to USD. Do any faculty members from your time at USD stand out for you? What’s interesting is that some of the ones I was closest to — or am still closest to today — were not people whose class I took. The relatively small size of the university and the ability to con- nect with folks in a very personal, direct way meant that I was close

I got the ones I needed.’ And there’s something similar about that with USD. USD caused me to have to get out of my comfort zone and be- come an activist on campus and work with the administration, my fellow students and faculty members to try and drive some measure of change. And I think we were successful in doing that. And the skill sets that I learned in doing that — things that were out- side of my comfort zone — are the skills I draw upon today for the work I do as an elected official. You once said in an interview that your experience at USD helped shape your passion for civil service. Is that because of how the activist part of yourself emerged and that you found your voice here? I was one of two students that petitioned to change the name of what it was then into USD PRIDE, and that involved me having to stand before the student body senate and file that application, and put my name to it, and then argue for it. My suspicion is that usually these sorts of things are rubber stamped: ‘You want to start a group? Fine. Here you go.’ That was not our situation. We had to argue for it. I had to be fast on my feet. And we got the vote; it was approved. It wasn’t unani- mous but it was approved. I spent eight years on the city council, four years in the state legislature and I’m now the may- or. I’m constantly having to artic- ulate and argue on behalf of oth- ers, to try and pull a vote, to put together a majority to get some- thing done. So, that time gave me those skill sets. It was some- thing that I frankly didn’t think was possible. I don’t know that I left USD thinking I could be an elected official myself. In fact, I thought exactly the opposite. But I felt as though I had skills

to those whose classes I took as well as those I didn’t take. I think of Dr. Evelyn Kirkley, who was lifesaving. And Del Dickson ended up being my polit- ical-science adviser, although I never took his class. In truth, I think I was too scared to take it. But we were both political nerds and just connected. How would you have a chance to talk to them or build a relationship with them and continue talking to them 20 years later at another university? That’s possible at USD; that’s one of the things that make it special. How was your experience on cam- pus? Were you openly gay at that time? Or is that something that came later in your life? Was it at all difficult? Yeah, it was. I don’t want to offend you, but it wasn’t great. At least not then. As a gay man of color in the mid-‘90s at USD, it wasn’t ideal. Maybe the sad- ness that you hear in my voice is in part because I went there in- tending to have the full experi- ence, and having come from a public high school, where people knew who and what I was, and they weren’t particularly accom- modating. I thought that college presented an opportunity for a fresh start, and it wasn’t that. At the time, USD PRIDE had a different name. They met in secret with security and it wasn’t seen as being a safe place. But as much as I sort of mourn not nec- essarily having the carefree un- dergraduate experience that I thought I was going to have, well, it’s kind of like my parents when I was a little boy. I confess that I often was frustrated by our lack of resources or their lack of education and their inability to help me with some of my tough homework, and seeing some of my classmates who had a better hand. But in retrospect, I look at my upbringing and think, ‘I didn’t get the parents I wanted.

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