David Alvarez

The Council President's Silence Published

The Developer's Democrat Published

In 2018, the Building Industry Association backed a Democrat. In 2019, that Democrat cast the deciding vote to kill inclusionary housing. In 2020, the building industry named her Public Official of the Year.

The Drains Can't Wait Published

San Diego enters a forecast record El Nino with a multi-billion-dollar stormwater deficit and a documented record of deferred channel maintenance - the same failure that drowned Southcrest in January 2024. The fix for the next flood is not the capital billions; it is ~$8M of channel clearing, now legally fast under AB 3227. Going into the storm, the Mayor's proposed FY27 budget moved to cut channel clearing from 18 miles to 13.

The Austerity Consensus Published

A management-made budget crisis reframed as a labor problem — and a nominally Democratic city handed back to the donor network.

The Faulconer Machine Published

A Republican mayor of a blue city, 101 Ash Street, the stadium wars, and the donor class entrenching as the county begins to flip.

The Madaffer Axis: Two Firms, One City Hall Published

The Revolving Door: Regulators for Hire Published

Three San Diego officials — Marcela Escobar-Eck (Development Services Director then Atlantis Group), Gil Cabrera (Ethics Commission Chair then Airport Authority Chair and New San Diego PAC), and Frank Urtasun (Sempra VP then Housing Commission Chair then Port Commissioner) — who ran a city regulatory, ethics, or housing body and later lobbied or consulted the same arena, two of them rotating back into appointed office. A bipartisan revolving door, documented evidence-first.