Focused on Helping Others - John Van Cleef

A revered and longtime North County neighbor, the Community Resource Center (CRC) provides meals and other services to senior citizens, low-income families, and others who need a helping hand. But its downtown Encinitas location has attracted critics recently because of expansion plans on the covet…

San Diego Unified is Getting Into the Housing Business

San Diego Unified School Trustee Shana Hazan sits down with Tony and a very special guest co-host, Tony’s wife Elizabeth Fitzsimons, to discuss what’s happening locally with the state’s second largest school district, and why it’s getting into the housing business and what that is expected to look …

Youth Baseball Parents: Stop Talking!

As little league seasons kick off across San Diego we take a deep dive into youth baseball with three guests who are as committed as anyone to the sport: Jeff Rosa,Joe Lewis  and Chad Starkey. Our guests shared essential advice for parents, coaches, and players, on handling  nerves, failure, car ri…

Creating Beauty from Devastation, Mariah Dawn on her new book, Dragon In You: A Memoir

Unable to catch her breath because of PTSD – brought on by years of abuse and trauma she suffered at the hands of her husband – Mariah Dawn sat down and tried something new. She opened a Word document and started writing. She noticed right away that she felt better. The writing was a release. It wa…

Election Special 2024 - Chris Cadelago

POLITICO’s Chris Cadelago joined Tony and Juan for a special 2024 Election Episode of Dear San Diego. Chris provided really smart takes on local, state, and national races, and shared some behind-the-scenes info, too. Chris covered the Trump White House and the Biden White House. He is currently wo…

Padres Uniforms and Persuadable Voters: The Art of Polling with John Nienstedt

The Padres sensed they had a problem. So they called John Nienstedt, who helped them figure out they should switch to brown jerseys. John brought in models who wore different jerseys to a series of focus groups. Each participant in the room was armed with a dial that they cranked one way for approv…

Preserving Community While Tackling Growth: Michael Inzunza's Vision for Chula Vista

Michael Inzunza is running for Chula Vista City Council. He comes from a long line of public servants and political dynamos. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of his parents’ first major campaign victory. They ran a bilingual campaign as a couple for two local school board seats. They both wo…

Treating the Invisible Wounds: A Clinician's Mission to Help Vets

Kelly Williams takes care of people who need care, and she’s creating an army of therapists like her to try and meet the needs of people wrestling with PTSD throughout San Diego. Williams is Clinic Director of The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Veterans Village of San Diego. In her spar…

Chad Peace on Marketing, Love, Family and his Finicky Fisker

A licensed attorney, Chad Peace never expected to lead a digital communications company that serves an impressive list of clients. With dozens of designers, project managers, and others, IVC Media, LLC’s binational team has offices in Mission Valley and Tijuana.  Politically, Chad has sort of corn…

Car guy lands dream job as CEO of San Diego Automotive Museum

Lenny Leszczynski is a car guy, dating back to his days as a young man who drove a Daytona Blue 1964 Chevy Impala, but his wife was not expecting him to land this job. After all, Lenny had never been a CEO before. He did take advantage of all the free time the pandemic gave us by going back to sch…